---
name: "printcap"
section: "5"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/printcap"
---

# printcap(5)

printer capability data base

## NAME

**printcap** – printer capability data base

## SYNOPSIS

**printcap**

## DEPRECATION NOTICE

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

## DESCRIPTION

The **Printcap** function is a simplified version of the [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md) data base used to describe line printers. The spooling system accesses the **printcap** file every time it is used, allowing dynamic addition and deletion of printers. Each entry in the data base is used to describe one printer. This data base may not be substituted for, as is possible for [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md), because it may allow accounting to be bypassed.

The default printer is normally *lp*, though the environment variable PRINTER may be used to override this. Each spooling utility supports an option, **-P** *printer*, to allow explicit naming of a destination printer.

Refer to the for a complete discussion on how to setup the database for a given printer.

## CAPABILITIES

Refer to [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md) for a description of the file layout.

| | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| af | str | NULL | name of accounting file |
| br | num | none | if lp is a tty, set the baud rate |
| cf | str | NULL | cifplot data filter |
| ct | num | 120 | TCP connection timeout in seconds |
| df | str | NULL | tex data filter |
| du | num | 1 | UID to run daemon as |
| ff | str | ‘\\f’ | string to send for a form feed |
| fo | bool | false | print a form feed when device is opened |
| gf | str | NULL | graph data filter |
| hl | bool | false | print the burst header page last |
| ic | bool | false | driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent printout |
| if | str | NULL | name of text filter which does accounting |
| lf | str | */dev/console* | error logging file name |
| lo | str | *lock* | name of lock file |
| lp | str | */dev/lp* | device name to open for output, or *port*@*machine* to open a TCP socket |
| mc | num | 0 | maximum number of copies which can be requested on |
| ms | str | NULL | if lp is a tty, a comma-separated, |
| mx | num | 0 | maximum file size (in |
| nd | str | NULL | next directory for list of queues (unimplemented) |
| nf | str | NULL | ditroff data filter (device independent troff) |
| of | str | NULL | name of output filtering program |
| pc | num | 200 | price per foot or page in hundredths of cents |
| pl | num | 66 | page length (in lines) |
| pw | num | 132 | page width (in characters) |
| px | num | 0 | page width in pixels (horizontal) |
| py | num | 0 | page length in pixels (vertical) |
| rc | bool | false | when sending to a remote host, resend copies (see below) |
| rf | str | NULL | filter for printing |
| rg | str | NULL | restricted group. Only members of group allowed access |
| rm | str | NULL | machine name for remote printer |
| rp | str | *lp* | remote printer name argument |
| rs | bool | false | restrict remote users to those with local accounts |
| rw | bool | false | open the printer device for reading and writing |
| sb | bool | false | short banner (one line only) |
| sc | bool | false | suppress multiple copies |
| sd | str | */var/spool/lpd* | spool directory |
| sf | bool | false | suppress form feeds |
| sh | bool | false | suppress printing of burst page header |
| sr | str | NULL | file name to hold statistics of each datafile as it is received |
| ss | str | NULL | file name to hold statistics of each datafile as it is sent |
| st | str | *status* | status file name |
| tf | str | NULL | troff data filter (cat phototypesetter) |
| tr | str | NULL | trailer string to print when queue empties |
| vf | str | NULL | raster image filter |

**Name	Type	Default	Description**

Each two-letter capability has a human-readable alternate name.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| af | acct.file |
| br | tty.rate |
| cf | filt.cifplot |
| ct | remote.timeout |
| df | filt.dvi |
| du | daemon.user |
| ff | job.formfeed |
| fo | job.topofform |
| gf | filt.plot |
| hl | banner.last |
| if | filt.input |
| lf | spool.log |
| lo | spool.lock |
| lp | tty.device |
| mc | max.copies |
| ms | tty.mode |
| mx | max.blocks |
| nf | filt.ditroff |
| of | filt.output |
| pc | acct.price |
| pl | page.length |
| pw | page.width |
| px | page.pwidth |
| py | page.plength |
| rc | remote.resend\_copies |
| rf | filt.fortran |
| rg | daemon.restrictgrp |
| rm | remote.host |
| rp | remote.queue |
| rs | daemon.restricted |
| rw | tty.rw |
| sb | banner.short |
| sc | job.no\_copies |
| sd | spool.dir |
| sf | job.no\_formfeed |
| sh | banner.disable |
| sr | stat.recv |
| ss | stat.send |
| st | spool.status |
| tf | filt.troff |
| tr | job.trailer |
| vf | filt.raster |

**Short form	Long form**

If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon must understand how to invoke it.

## FILTERS

The [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md) daemon creates a pipeline of *filters* to process files for various printer types. The filters selected depend on the flags passed to [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md). The pipeline set up is:

```
p	pr | if	regular text + pr(1)
none	if	regular text
c	cf	cifplot
d	df	DVI (tex)
g	gf	plot(3)
n	nf	ditroff
f	rf	Fortran
t	tf	troff
v	vf	raster image
```

The **if** filter is invoked with arguments:

**if** \[**-c**\] **-w***width* **-l***length* **-i***indent* **-n** *login* **-h** *host* *acct-file*

The **-c** flag is passed only if the **-l** flag (pass control characters literally) is specified to [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md). The *Width* function and *length* specify the page width and length (from **pw** and **pl** respectively) in characters. The **-n** and **-h** parameters specify the login name and host name of the owner of the job respectively. The *Acct-file* function is passed from the **af** **printcap** entry.

If no **if** is specified, **of** is used instead, with the distinction that **of** is opened only once, while **if** is opened for every individual job. Thus, **if** is better suited to performing accounting. The **of** is only given the *width* and *length* flags.

All other filters are called as:

**filter** **-x***width* **-y***length* **-n** *login* **-h** *host* *acct-file*

where *width* and *length* are represented in pixels, specified by the **px** and **py** entries respectively.

All filters take *stdin* as the file, *stdout* as the printer, may log either to *stderr* or using [syslog(3)](/syslog/3.md), and must not ignore SIGINT.

## REMOTE PRINTING

When printing to a remote printer using **rm**, it is possible to use either **if** or **of**. If both are specified, **of** is ignored. Both filters behave the same except that they are passed different arguments as above. Specifically, the output filter is terminated and restarted for each file transmitted. This is necessary in order to pass the resulting size to the remote [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md).

If the **-p** flag was passed to [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md), [pr(1)](/pr/1.md) is not executed locally, but is requested of the remote [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md). Any input filtering via **if** will therefore happen before [pr(1)](/pr/1.md) is executed rather than afterwards.

There are some models of network printers which accept jobs from [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md), but they ignore the control file for a job and simply print each data file as it arrives at the printer. One side-effect of this behavior is that the printer will ignore any request for multiple copies as given with the **-#** flag on the [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md) command. The **rc** entry will cause [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md) to resend each data file for each copy that the user originally requested. Note that the **rc** entry should only be specified on hosts which send jobs directly to the printer.

If **lp** is specified as *port*@*machine* (and **rm** is not in use), print data will be sent directly to the given *port* on the given *machine*.

## TRANSFER STATISTICS

When a print job is transferred to a remote machine (which might be another unix box, or may be a network printer), it may be useful to keep statistics on each transfer. The **sr** and **ss** options indicate filenames that lpd should use to store such statistics. A statistics line is written for each datafile of a job as the file is successfully transferred. The format of the line is the same for both the sending and receiving side of a transfer.

Statistics on datafiles being received would be used on a print server, if you are interested in network performance between a variety of machines which are sending jobs to that print server. The print server could collect statistics on the speed of each print job as it arrived on the server.

Statistics on datafiles being sent might be used as a minimal accounting record, when you want to know who sent which jobs to a remote printer, when they were sent, and how large (in bytes) the files were. This will not give include any idea of how many pages were printed, because there is no standard way to get that information back from a remote (network) printer in this case.

## LOGGING

Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves (that is, the [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md) and related programs) are logged by [syslog(3)](/syslog/3.md) using the LPR facility. Messages printed on *stderr* of one of the filters are sent to the corresponding **lf** file. The filters may, of course, use [syslogd(8)](/syslogd/8.md) themselves.

Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed.

## SEE ALSO

[lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md), [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md), [lprm(1)](/lprm/1.md), [hosts.lpd(5)](/hosts.lpd/5.md), [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md), [chkprintcap(8)](/chkprintcap/8.md), [lpc(8)](/lpc/8.md), [lpd(8)](/lpd/8.md), [pac(8)](/pac/8.md) *4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual*.

## HISTORY

The **printcap** file format appeared in 4.2BSD.