scripting help for LP command

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

UNIX newbie needs scripting help for boring manual process. Each day I do the following:
lpstat -o
cancel AcctHold_1-#### (where #### is the print job having the largest kb size)
enable AcctHold_1 (and wait 30sec)
disable AcctHold_1

This lpstat usually has only 2 print jobs, a small and super-huge one. Is there a way to make a script do the same steps above, but have it (script) automatically figure out which print job is the largest and kill that one? The two print jobs differ greatly in size. Any help/suggestions would be -- awesome. Thanks -- UX Newbie

[Ramkumar Devanathan · Accepted solution]

hi Thomas,

Would be helpful if you could throw the output of the lpstat -o command.

- ramd.

[Geoff Wild]

First, if it is always on printer AcctHold_1, then just do a :

lpstat AcctHold_1

Next, is the the name of the large file being printed always the same?
Is the size of the large file always the same?
Does the large file always get submitted at the same time?

That would make it easier - else you'll have to do some comparing with AWK....

Rgds...Geoff

[Rodney Hills]

If you use perl, you can scan the "request" folder for the printer for print jobs.

$prt="AcctHold_1";
chdir("/var/spool/lp/request/$prt");
open(INP,"/usr/bin/find . -name 'd*' -print |");
while() {
chomp;
if ($sz=-s $_ > $big) { $fil=$_ ; $big=$sz; }
}
system("/usr/bin/cancel ${prt}-".(0+substr($fil,4,4)));

HTH

-- Rod Hills

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

Here's the exact output from lpstat in JPG format...

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi,

lpstat -o | awk '/^AcctHold/{req=$1;getline;if ($(NF-1)>max){kreq=req;max=$(NF-1)}}END{system("cancel "kreq)}'

should do it.

rgds, Robin

[Geoff Wild]

Robin - excellent AWKing! that's a 10 in my book.



Rgds...Geoff

[Mark Ellzey]

Hi,

How is this print job being created? Rather than canceling the print job after the fact, you may want to look at where it's being created and handle it there.

Regards,
Mark

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

Robin -- script worked great! The only issue I have now is that it doesn't run for normal users (ie: non-root). Gives me an error message about me not being the owner of the print job. Is there a way to run this script as ROOT (SUID?) so that it bypasses this error message? Thanks again. :)

[Steve Steel]

Hi

This will always remove the largest job.
Printer = parameter


3 lines in total

printer=$1

cancel $printer"-"$(find /var/spool/lp/request/$printer -type f -name dA*|

xargs du -s|sort -n|tail -n 1|sed -e 's/^.*dA//' |cut -c1-4)


Steve Steel

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi Peter,

I would probably incorporate sudo into the script, i.e.

system("sudo cancel "kreq)

If you haven't already got this utility, I'd recommend its use - it can be downloaded from:

http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Sysadmin/sudo-1.6.6

rgds, Robin

[John Meissner]

If you need to cancel the same print job every day why not stop the print job from printing in the first place?

[Peter A. Berger Jr.]

closed