For each print job in the queue, lpq reports the user's name, current position, the names of input files comprising the job, the job number (by which it is referred to when using lprm(1)) and the total size in bytes. Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line is displayed. Jobs are normally queued on a first-in-first-out basis. Filenames comprising a job may be unavailable, such as when lpr is used at the end of a pipeline; in such cases the filename field indicates ``(standard input)''.
If lpq warns that there is no daemon present (that is, due to some malfunction), the lpc(8) command can be used to restart a printer daemon.
Waiting for printer to become ready (offline ?) The daemon could not open the printer device. The printer may be turned off-line. This message can also occur if a printer is out of paper, the paper is jammed, and so on. Another possible cause is that a process, such as an output filter, has exclusive use of the device. The only recourse in this case is to kill the offending process and restart the printer with lpc.
waiting for host to come up
A daemon is trying to connect to the remote machine
named host, in order to send the files in the local
queue. If the remote machine is up, lpd on the remote
machine is probably dead or hung and should be restarted
using lpc.
sending to host
The files are being transferred to the remote host, or
else the local daemon has hung while trying to transfer
the files.
Warning: printer is down
The printer has been marked as being unavailable with
lpc.
Warning: no daemon present
The lpd process overseeing the spooling queue, as indicated
in the ``lock'' file in that directory, does not
exist. This normally occurs only when the daemon has
unexpectedly died. Check the printer's error log for a
diagnostic from the deceased process; you can restart
the printer daemon with lpc.
Output formatting is sensitive to the line length of the terminal; this can result in widely-spaced columns.
lpq is sometimes unable to open various files when the lock file is malformed.