Default Printer Destination

You can specify a default printer destination for a system so you don't need to type the printer name when using the SunSoft print commands. Before you can designate a printer as the default, the printer must be known to the print service on the system. You can set a system's default printer destination by setting any of the following:

• LPDEST environment variable

• PRINTER environment variable

• _default in .printers file

• _default in /etc/printers.conf file (lpadmin -d command)

When an application provides a printer destination, that destination is used by the print service, regardless of whether you have set a system's default printer destination. If an application doesn't provide a printer destination or if you don't provide a printer name when using a print command, the print command searches for the default printer in a specific order. Table 6-2 shows the search order for a system's default printer destination.

Table 6-2 Search Order for Default Printer Destinations

Search Order	Using lp Command	Using lpr, lpq, and lprm Commands
First	LPDEST variable	PRINTER variable
Second	PRINTER variable	LPDEST variable
Third	_default in .printers file	_default in .printers file
Fourth	_default in /etc/printers.conf file	_default in /etc/printers.conf file