System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Setting Up a Default Printer Destination

You can specify a default printer destination for a user so the user doesn't need to type the printer name when using the 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 user's default printer destination by setting any of the following:

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. The following table shows the search order for a system's default printer destination.

Table 5–1 Search Order for Default Printer Destinations

Search Order 

Using /usr/bin/lp Command

Using lpd-Based Compatibility Commands (lpr, lpq, and lprm)

First 

LPDEST variable

PRINTER variable

Second 

PRINTER variable

LPDEST variable

Third 

System's default printer 

System's default printer