---
name: "lpc"
section: "8"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/lpc/8"
---

# lpc(8)

line printer control program

## NAME

**lpc** – line printer control program

## SYNOPSIS

**lpc** \[*command* \[*argument* *...*\]\]

## DEPRECATION NOTICE

This facility is scheduled for removal prior to the release of FreeBSD 16.0.

## DESCRIPTION

The **lpc** utility is used by the system administrator to control the operation of the line printer system. For each line printer configured in */etc/printcap*, **lpc** may be used to:

- disable or enable a printer,

- disable or enable a printer's spooling queue,

- rearrange the order of jobs in a spooling queue,

- find the status of printers, and their associated spooling queues and printer daemons,

- change the status message for printer queues (the status message may be seen by users as part of the output of the [lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md) utility).

Without any arguments, **lpc** will prompt for commands from the standard input. If arguments are supplied, **lpc** interprets the first argument as a command and the remaining arguments as parameters to the command. The standard input may be redirected causing **lpc** to read commands from file. Commands may be abbreviated; the following is the list of recognized commands.

- **?** \[*command* *...*\]

  - **help** \[*command* *...*\]

  Print a short description of each command specified in the argument list, or, if no argument is given, a list of the recognized commands.

- **abort** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Terminate an active spooling daemon on the local host immediately and then disable printing (preventing new daemons from being started by [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md)) for the specified printers.

- **bottomq** *printer* \[*jobspec* *...*\]

  Take the specified jobs in the order specified and move them to the bottom of the printer queue. Each *jobspec* can match multiple print jobs. The full description of a *jobspec* is given below.

- **clean** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Remove any temporary files, data files, and control files that cannot be printed (i.e., do not form a complete printer job) from the specified printer queue(s) on the local machine. This command will also look for *core* files in spool directory for each printer queue, and list any that are found. It will not remove any *core* files. See also the **tclean** command.

- **disable** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Turn the specified printer queues off. This prevents new printer jobs from being entered into the queue by [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md).

- **down** {**all** \| *printer* *...*} **-msg** *message* *...*

  - **down** {**all** \| *printer*} *message* *...*

  Turn the specified printer queue off, disable printing and put *message* in the printer status file. When specifying more than one printer queue, the **-msg** argument is required to separate the list of printers from the text that will be the new status message. The message does not need to be quoted, the remaining arguments are treated like [echo(1)](/echo/1.md). This is normally used to take a printer down, and let other users find out why it is down (the [lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md) utility will indicate that the printer is down and will print the status message).

- **enable** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Enable spooling on the local queue for the listed printers. This will allow [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md) to put new jobs in the spool queue.

- **exit**

  - **quit**

  Exit from **lpc**.

- **restart** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Attempt to start a new printer daemon. This is useful when some abnormal condition causes the daemon to die unexpectedly, leaving jobs in the queue. [lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md) will report that there is no daemon present when this condition occurs. If the user is the super-user, try to abort the current daemon first (i.e., kill and restart a stuck daemon).

- **setstatus** {**all** \| *printer*} **-msg** *message* *...*

  Set the status message for the specified printers. The **-msg** argument is required to separate the list of printers from the text that will be the new status message. This is normally used to change the status message when the printer queue is no longer active after printing has been disabled, and you want to change what users will see in the output of the [lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md) utility.

- **start** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Enable printing and start a spooling daemon for the listed printers.

- **status** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Display the status of daemons and queues on the local machine.

- **stop** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Stop a spooling daemon after the current job completes and disable printing.

- **tclean** {**all** \| *printer*}

  This will do a test-run of the **clean** command. All the same checking is done, but the command will only print out messages saying what a similar **clean** command would do if the user typed it in. It will not remove any files. Note that the **clean** command is a privileged command, while the **tclean** command is not restricted.

- **topq** *printer* \[*jobspec* *...*\]

  Take the specified jobs in the order specified and move them to the top of the printer queue. Each *jobspec* can match multiple print jobs. The full description of a *jobspec* is given below.

- **up** {**all** \| *printer*}

  Enable everything and start a new printer daemon. Undoes the effects of **down**.

Commands such as **topq** and **bottomq** can take one or more *jobspec* to specify which jobs the command should operate on. A *jobspec* can be:

- a single job number, which will match all jobs in the printer's queue which have the same job number. Eg: *17*,

- a range of job numbers, which will match all jobs with a number between the starting and ending job numbers, inclusive. Eg: *21-32*,

- a specific userid, which will match all jobs which were sent by that user. Eg: *jones*,

- a host name, when prefixed by an \`@', which will match all jobs in the queue which were sent from the given host. Eg: *@freebsd.org*,

- a job range and a userid, separated by a \`:', which will match all jobs which both match the job range and were sent by the specified user. Eg: *jones:17* or *21-32:jones*,

- a job range and/or a userid, followed by a host name, which will match all jobs which match all the specified criteria. Eg: *jones@freebsd.org* or *21-32@freebsd.org* or *jones:17@freebsd.org*.

The values for userid and host name can also include pattern-matching characters, similar to the pattern matching done for filenames in most command shells. Note that if you enter a **topq** or **bottomq** command as parameters on the initial **lpc** command, then the shell will expand any pattern-matching characters that it can (based on what files in finds in the current directory) before **lpc** processes the command. In that case, any parameters which include pattern-matching characters should be enclosed in quotes, so that the shell will not try to expand them.

## FILES

- */etc/printcap*

  printer description file

- */var/spool/\**

  spool directories

- */var/spool/\*/lock*

  lock file for queue control

## DIAGNOSTICS

- ?Ambiguous command

  abbreviation matches more than one command

- ?Invalid command

  no match was found

- ?Privileged command

  you must be a member of group "operator" or root to execute this command

## SEE ALSO

[lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md), [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md), [lprm(1)](/lprm/1.md), [printcap(5)](/printcap/5.md), [chkprintcap(8)](/chkprintcap/8.md), [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **lpc** utility appeared in 4.2BSD.