Print to printer on UNIX

[alsd]

Hi all,<br>

<br>

I need some help on this. How do I print to an UNIX printer from a PERL program?<br>

<br>

My thinking is just open the printer as if it is a file with open(), then print

 

[AndyBo]

I can think of a couple of ways, one I've tried, one I haven't (yet... .<br>
<br>
First method...<br>
<FONT FACE=monospace><br>
open (MYFILE, &quot;&gt;/tmp/myfile.txt&quot;<br>
.<br>
... Do some perl stuff writing to MYFILE.<br>
.<br>
close(MYFILE);<br>
system(&quot;lp -dmyprinter /tmp/myfile.txt&quot;<br>
unlink(&quot;/tmp/myfile.txt&quot;<br>
</font><br>
Second method, that you suggested, which I haven't tried yet, but that should work a treat...<br>
<FONT FACE=monospace><br>
# Use -s to silence lp.<br>
open(MYPRINTER, &quot;¦ lp -s -dmyprinter&quot;<br>
<br>
.<br>
... do some perl stuff writing to MYPRINTER.<br>
.<br>
<br>
# If this works as I suspect, print job should start now...<br>
close(MYPRINTER);<br>
</font><br>
2nd way is a lot neater - wish I'd thought of it myself a long time ago! <br>
<br>
OK, I'm off to try this now - I'll let you know how I get on

 

[AndyBo]

Works well - as in the following example:<br>
<FONT FACE=monospace><br>
#!/usr/bin/perl<br>
<br>
opendir(HOME, $ENV{'HOME'});<br>
<br>
open(PRINTER, &quot;¦ lp -s -dmyprinter&quot;<br>
<br>
while ( $file = readdir(HOME) ) {<br>
print PRINTER $file, &quot;\n&quot;;<br>
}<br>
<br>
close(PRINTER);<br>
<br>
closedir(HOME);<br>
</font><br>
<br>
Just replace the <FONT FACE=monospace>lp</font> command with something appropriate for your system.<br>
<br>
HTH.

 

[MikeLacey]

Andy's second suggestion is the way we do things - works fine unless you want to keep a copy of stuff you've printed.<br>
<br>
Mike<br>
<p>Mike Lacey<br><a href=mailto:Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com>Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br>

 

[thendal]

Follow up with old thread

Couple of years back posted a thread in tek-tips ..regarding
printing in perl .
thread219-7086
i tried the same thing ...but its not working for me ..I really
appreciate if you could tell me what i am doing wrong.

Here is the code i used to
$variable_to_print=&quot;abasdhajsd&quot;;

open(PRINTER,&quot;¦lpr -PPrintServer01&quot || die &quot;Can't open lpr: $!\n&quot;;
print PRINTER $variable_to_print;
close(PRINTER);

Printer didn't respond to this code.....

when i changed the code to write to a file and then print it ..it
worked ....

open(PRINTER,&quot;>/tmp/temp.txt&quot;
print PRINTER $variable_to_print;
close(PRITNER);
system(&quot;lpr -PPrintServer01 /tmp/temp.txt&quot;
unlink(&quot;/tmp/temp.txt&quot;

I don't want to write to a file as it contains sensitive information .

Thanks .

Regards,
Thendal