NAME¶
vtprint - print files from UNIX host to printer attached to local terminal
SYNOPSIS¶
vtprint [
-bBcCdDeEfFhlnNqQtvw ] [
-L vtprintcap ] [
-T termtype ] [
-V device ] [
filename... ]
DESCRIPTION¶
vtprint is a simple filter that prints ASCII text to a printer connected
to a terminal or terminal emulator. It uses terminal escape sequences to
print, and can substitute for
lpr(1) in circumstances where the printer
is not connected directly to the host or available via TCP/IP.
OPTIONS¶
- -b
- Causes vtprint to open the output stream in binary modes,
overriding any automatic postprocessing done by the host (e.g. CR/LF
translations). This has no effect if the output stream is not a tty
device.
- -B
- Undoes the effect of the -b option. Note that this does not
open the output stream in text mode if it would not normally be opened in
that mode.
- -c
- Causes vtprint to append any linefeeds (ASCII 0xA) with carriage
returns (ASCII 0xD). This is useful for printing data from a UNIX or
similar host to an MS-DOS system's printer that expects CR/LF line
termination.
- -C
- Causes vtprint to pass all carriage returns and linefeeds
unmodified.
- -d
- Use the tty device file instead of stdout for output. This is defined as
/dev/tty on this system. (This is operating system specific and may
vary from system to system.) This is useful for using vtprint as a
pipe called by programs that suppress or redirect the stdout stream of the
pipe or printing process.
- -D
- Use the stdout stream for output, rather than a tty device file.
- -e
- Forces vtprint to ignore the TERM environment variable and use the
builtin control codes instead.
- -E
- Undoes the effect of the -e option, which allows vtprint to
attempt to find an entry in /etc/vtprintcap for the TERM value and
use the corresponding control codes.
- -f
- Requests vtprint to suppress inclusion of formfeeds (ASCII 0xC)
between multiple files. Note that this has no affect on any formfeeds that
may be present in the input files already.
- -F
- Requests vtprint to include formfeeds between multiple files
specified on the command-line and at the end of the last file
printed.
- -h
- Print out a simple usage message.
- -l
- Print out the vtprint license agreement.
- -L vtprintcap
- Specifies an alternate file to use instead of /etc/vtprintcap.
- -n
- Causes vtprint to strip the CR from any CR/LF sequences. This will
not affect handling of any CRs present elsewhere in the file.
- -N
- Causes vtprint to pass all carriage returns and linefeeds
unmodified.
- -q
- Quiet mode. Suppress various status messages from being displayed, useful
in situations where vtprint is used as part of a shell script, for
example.
- -Q
- Cancels the effect of the -q option, allowing normal progress
reporting to occur.
- -t
- Force the use of the TERM variable to perform a look up of the control
sequences to be used in /etc/vtprintcap. If an entry in that file
can't be found, vtprint will abort with an error.
- -T termtype
- Use the value of termtype instead of the value of the TERM
environment variable when performing lookups in
/etc/vtprintcap.
- -v
- Display version information.
- -V device
- Specifies an alternate device file instead of /dev/tty to use.
- -w
- Display important warranty waiver information. NO WARRANTY!
- --
- This option changes no special operational parameters of vtprint.
But it does indicate to the program that all of the command-line arguments
which follow are to be parsed as filenames, even if they begin with a
dash. Hence to process a single file with the name "file" you
would call vtprint as " vtprint -- -file".
ENVIRONMENT¶
- TERM
- the type of the terminal vtprint will assume is being used.
- VTPRINT
- string of options to be used by vtprint.
AUTHOR¶
vtprint was written by Garrett D'Amore, on December 27, 1993 and last
modified on October 25, 1994. It is heavily derived from a similar program,
called
lprint, by the same author. He can be reached via Internet
e-mail at garrett@sciences.sdsu.edu.
DISTRIBUTION¶
The latest version of
vtprint can be obtained by anonymous ftp at
ftp.sdsu.edu in the
/pub/vtprint directory. Please read the
INDEX and
README files before downloading.
If you do not have ftp availability, then you can request a uuencoded copy of
vtprint be sent to you via e-mail from the author. The author is also
willing to make other arrangements as needed, within certain limitations.
MAILING LIST¶
A mailing list for the discussion of topics related to and about
vtprint
exists. To subscribe to this mailing list, send a message to
"vtprint-request@sdsu.edu" with the word "subscribe" as
the body. An automated list server will reply with information about the
mailing list.
COPYRIGHT¶
vtprint is copyrighted 1994, by Garrett D'Amore. It may be freely
redistributed or modified, so long as this and any other copyright notices are
included in their original form with the program. The user is granted the
right to use this program without limitation.
DISCLAIMER¶
vtprint is provided WITHOUT WARRANTY. The user agrees to indemnify the
author from any claims of damage or loss arising from the use of or inability
to use this program. In other words, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
CAVEATS¶
vtprint cannot be used to print files containing non-printable
characters, as these may cause conflicts with the terminal or emulator used.
When used over a serial (modem) connection,
vtprint may not work properly
unless hardware (CTS/RTS) flow control is used. This is due to the fact that
most printers are slower than serial connections in common use.
vtprint uses terminal escape sequences to print, and not all terminal
emulators support these sequences, and of those that do, some support it
differently. You can find a listing of some of the programs known to work and
not to work with
vtprint in the file
COMPAT. The best thing to
do is try your particular emulator, and find out if it works. The author would
appreciate any reports of success or failure, or strange behavior. You can
send those to him via Internet e-mail. (See the
AUTHOR chapter for how
to reach him.)
The
/etc/vtprintcap file is still largely incomplete. The author would
very much appreciate it if individuals with more information different
terminals would get in contact with him so that support can be added for these
terminals in the master archive.
Do
not background this program, as it has no way of knowing when it is in
the background and when it is in the foreground. This will result in your
foreground process' output being printed as well as the output from
vtprint.
FILES¶
/etc/vtprintcap
TODOS¶
Fix any bugs present, clean-up the documentation, continue to build upon entries
in the
COMPAT and
/etc/vtprintcap files, and finally, finish
getting a college education!
BUGS¶
vtprint doesn't handle some signals properly, especially the SIGKILL and
SIGSTOP signals, which can't be caught anyway. Also it doesn't check to see if
you have backgrounded the process. The resulting condition may leave all
output directed to the printer instead of the screen. The fix for this
condition is to run the provided
vtprtoff program with no arguments,
which will restore normal screen output. (You probably won't be able to see
what you're typing while you start
vtprtoff from the shell.)
SEE ALSO¶
lpr(1), vtprintcap(5), vtprtoff(1)