NAME

     lprm — remove jobs from the line printer spooling queue

SYNOPSIS

     lprm [-] [-Pprinter] [[job# ...] [user ...]]

DESCRIPTION

     lprm will remove a job, or jobs, from a printer's spool queue.  Since the spooling directory
     is protected from users, using lprm is normally the only method by which a user may remove a
     job.  The owner of a job is determined by the user's login name and host name on the machine
     where the lpr(1) command was invoked.

     Options and arguments:

     -Pprinter
             Specify the queue associated with a specific printer (otherwise the default printer
             is used).

     -       If a single “-” is given, lprm will remove all jobs which a user owns.  If the
             superuser employs this flag, the spool queue will be emptied entirely.

     user    Causes lprm to attempt to remove any jobs queued belonging to that user (or users).
             This form of invoking lprm is useful only to the superuser.

     job#    A user may dequeue an individual job by specifying its job number.  This number may
             be obtained from the lpq(1) program, e.g.,

                   % lpq -l

                   1st:ken                         [job #013ucbarpa]
                           (standard input)        100 bytes
                   % lprm 13

     If neither arguments or options are given, lprm will delete the currently active job if it
     is owned by the user who invoked lprm.

     lprm announces the names of any files it removes and is silent if there are no jobs in the
     queue which match the request list.

     lprm will kill off an active daemon, if necessary, before removing any spooling files.  If a
     daemon is killed, a new one is automatically restarted upon completion of file removals.

ENVIRONMENT

     If the following environment variable exists, it is utilized by lprm:

     PRINTER  If the environment variable PRINTER exists, and a printer has not been specified
              with the -P option, the default printer is assumed from PRINTER.

FILES

     /etc/printcap              Printer characteristics file.
     /var/spool/output/*        Spooling directories.
     /var/spool/output/*/lock   Lock file used to obtain the PID of the current daemon and the
                                job number of the currently active job.

DIAGNOSTICS

     Permission denied
             Printed if the user tries to remove files other than his own.

SEE ALSO

     lpq(1), lpr(1), lpd(8)

HISTORY

     The lprm command appeared in 3.0BSD.

BUGS

     Since there are race conditions possible in the update of the lock file, the currently
     active job may be incorrectly identified.