Unix printing using enscript, dvips, and psduplex

On this page:

• Introduction
• Using dvips
• Using enscript
• Using psduplex
• Examples

Introduction

A number of print commands are available in Unix. For information about the most basic, see In Unix, how do I print files and list or remove print jobs? Following is information about the commands dvips (which converts DVI files to PostScript and prints them), enscript (which converts text files to Postscript and prints them), and psduplex, which makes a file print on both sides of the page.

Note: Do not send output to printers with which you are not familiar.

Using dvips

The dvips command in Unix takes a DVI file, produced by TeX or LaTeX, and turns it into a PostScript file. It then attempts to print the file on the default printer, unless told otherwise.

You can send the output of the dvips command to a file using the -o switch. For example, to convert the DVI file myfile.dvi into a PostScript file named newfile.ps, you would enter:

Although the output of the dvips command can be redirected, its input cannot be taken from a pipe, but instead, must be redirected from a file. For example, you could enter:

This would convert myfile.dvi to PostScript, send it to the 2up command for side-by-side printing, filter through psduplex for double-sided printing, and use the BSD print command to send the output to the printer named ps99 (which is assumed to be PostScript- and double-sided-compatible).

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Using enscript

The enscript command in Unix changes a text file to PostScript format and then sends it to the printer. The general format is:

Replace textfilename with the name of the file you want to convert and print. The [switches] are optional settings, as follows:

Note: You can combine the -2 and -r options to produce 2up style documents, with two pages per sheet in landscape orientation.

For more information about enscript, read its man page by entering:

Printing a file beginning with the last page and ending with the first page

Two Unix commands, psselect and psrev, can reverse the output of a PostScript file.

In the following examples, replace printer with the network-connected PostScript printer of your choice (e.g., ps99) and filename with the name of your file.

To use psselect on a BSD system, at the Unix prompt, enter:

To use psselect on a System V system, enter:

To use psrev on a BSD system, at the Unix prompt, enter:

To use psrev on a System V system, enter:

The enscript command feeds to the standard output, psrev or psselect reverses the order of the PostScript file, and then this is fed to the printer via lpr or lp.

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Using psduplex

The psduplex command in Unix makes a file print on both sides of the paper. It will work only with printers that support double-sided (i.e., duplex) printing.

The psduplex command accepts PostScript format input, and should be the last filter used before the print command.

A single switch, -tumble, causes files printed in landscape mode to be rotated along the short side of the paper to keep the text upright. Normally, the rotation is done along the long side of the page.

For example, on a system using BSD-compatible printing, to take the output of the enscript command converting a text file named myfile.txt and print it double-sided on a compatible printer named ps99, you would enter at the Unix prompt:

To print the same document in tumbled landscape mode, you would enter:

Be sure that the printer you're using can handle double-sided printing before you use psduplex.

Because psduplex is actually just an executable Perl script, you can easily install it on your own system by copying the text in between the lines into a file:

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Examples

Here are some examples of printing files with various combinations of the lpr, enscript, 2up, dvips, and psduplex commands. Not all utilities are available on all Unix systems.

In all examples, replace printername with the defined name of the printer. Also, in examples using the lpr commands, you could use the equivalent lp commands.

1. On a BSD-compatible system, convert and print a text file without a banner page: enscript -Pprintername -h myfile.txt
2. Make a PostScript file of the text file myfile.txt and save it as myfile.ps: enscript -pmyfile.ps myfile.txt
3. Redirect the output of enscript as input for another command: enscript -2rG -p- myfile.txt | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h

   This will convert myfile.txt into a two-column, rotated PostScript file with a large header, send it through the psduplex filter to print on both sides of the paper, and finally print the result without a banner page.

4. Print a text file, one page per sheet, one-sided: lpr -Pprintername -h filename.txt
5. Print a text file, two pages per sheet, one-sided, gaudy headers, landscape mode: enscript -Pprintername -2rGh filename.txt or: enscript -hl -p- filename.txt | 2up | lpr -Pprintername -h
6. Print a text file as in step 5, but on both sides of the paper: enscript -lh filename.txt | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h or: enscript -hl -p- filename.txt | 2up | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h
7. Print a text file as in step 5, but on both sides of the paper, with you owning the job but getting a header page: enscript -2rG -p- filename.txt | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername
8. Print as in step 5, but with you not owning the job (i.e., can't remove it from the queue), without getting a header page: enscript -2rGh -Pprintername filename.txt
9. Print a text file on both sides of the paper, with four or eight pages per side of one sheet, saving paper: enscript -hl -p- filename.txt | 4up | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h enscript -hl -p- filename.txt | 8up | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h
10. Print a PostScript (PS) file, one page per sheet, one-sided: lpr -Pprintername -h filename.ps
11. Print a PS file, two pages per sheet, landscape, one-sided: 2up filename.ps | lpr -Pprintername -h
12. Print a compressed PS file as in step 10: zcat filename.ps.Z | lpr -Pprintername -h
13. Print a compressed PS file as in step 11: zcat filename.ps.Z | 2up | lpr -Pprintername -h
14. Print a PS file as in step 10, but double-sided: cat filename.ps | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h
15. Print a PS file as in step 11, but double-sided: 2up filename.ps | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h
16. Produce a PS file from a DVI file: dvips -o outfilename.ps filename.dvi
17. Print a DVI file one-sided, one page per sheet: dvips -f < filename.dvi | lpr -Pprintername -h
18. Print as in step 17, but double-sided: dvips -f < filename.dvi | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h
19. Print as in step 17, but two pages per sheet: dvips -f < filename.dvi | 2up | lpr -Pprintername -h

    You can also use 4up or 8up if you want.

20. Print as in step 18, but two pages per sheet: dvips -f < filename.dvi | 2up | psduplex | lpr -Pprintername -h

At Indiana University, for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems support, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?

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