Printing with the lp command

Using the shell: You can use the lp command to send a previously formatted file to a JES printer:

lp filename

You can specify more than one file name with the command. The lp command uses existing JES printer facilities. Because a default printer destination is assigned to you, you do not need to specify a destination (with the -d dest option) when entering the lp command. However, you can specify a destination other than the default by using the -d dest option. For -d dest, you can specify LOCAL for any printer or any of the symbolic destination names your systems programmer defined for JES printers. These symbolic names are defined locally.

Class is a frequently used option, and at your site there might be several different classes defined. For instance, C may be designated the class for confidential information. Suppose that you want to print the file temp.prt using the default printer destination and specifying class C; you would enter it in either of these ways:

lp -d ,c temp.prt

lp -d,c temp.prt

The parameters on the -d option are positional, so if you omit a destination, you must still include the comma.

To specify the number of copies you want printed, use the -n option. For example,

lp -n 2 report2

requests the printing of two copies of the formatted file in report2 to the default printer destination.

If you have z/OS Print Server installed on your system, you will use the Print Server version of the lp command.