“Print to File” and can it be used from command line

command linegnomeprinting

When you select "Print to File" in a Gnome print dialog (not cups-pdf):

print-to-file

… what is the actual command that gets executed? (I'm interested in the postscript variant, as on the image)

On the other hand – maybe there isn't a command call; maybe it is gtk_print_operation_set_export_filename from The new Gtk+ Printing API?

In any case – is there a way for me to utilize this particular code from the command line (not pdf2ps and the like)? Say, by using lpr to "print to file" to a postscript file – as if I was using the dialog above?

Best Answer

You could use the cups-pdf package as a solution independent from gnome. After installing the package, add the PDF printer using the cups webinterface at http://localhost:631 as described here ('General' as printer manufacturer, CUPS-PDF as driver).

For your convenience, change the output directory with the option Out in /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf to, like, ${HOME} or whatever you want. Then do as suggested by @Noam to print to file.

Related Solutions

Zathura: how to print specified pages

I saw no way to do this using the :print command. Nothing was mentioned about this capability in the man pages or on the documentation on the project's website, so I'm inclined to think that it's not currently available.

I created an issue in their issue tracker to either:

explain how to do this
implement this feature down the road

This is the ticket: Possible to print a range of pages from a PDF?

How to print password protected pdf with cups from command line

Why not remove the password temporary and print the resulting unsecure pdf with lpr:

pdftk secure.pdf input_pw own output - | lpr

If you don't want that this command is listed in bash command history:

set +x history
<commands>
set -x history

<whitespace><command>

OR use a script (adapted from here):

#!/bin/bash
unset password
prompt="Enter Password:"
while IFS= read -p "$prompt" -r -s -n 1 char; do
    [[ $char == $'\0' ]] && break
    prompt='*'
    password+="$char"
done
pdftk secure.pdf input_pw "$password" output - | lpr

Source for disabling bash history

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Zathura: how to print specified pages

How to print password protected pdf with cups from command line

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