PRINT

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Supported DOS versions:	All versions
How easy to use?	Easy
How safe to use?	Fairly safe
How common?	Fairly common
Internal or external command?	External

Description

Prints text files in the background allowing other programs to be run.

Command Syntax

PRINT [/d:device] [/b:size] [/u:ticks] [/m:ticks2] [/s:ticks3] [/q:size] [/t] filename ... [/c] [/p]

/d:device specifies the device to use for printing. This will be PRN by default but it can also be LPT1 - LPT3 or COM1 - COM4. If you miss out the /d switch you will be asked for the device before printing.
/b:size specifies the amount of memory in bytes to use for printing. The default and minimum size is 512 bytes and the maximum is 16,384 bytes. The more memory is available, the more files can be printed and the less free memory is available.
/u:ticks specifies the maximum time (the number of clock ticks) PRINT waits for a busy printer to respond before giving up its time slice. The minimum and default is 1 and the maximum is 255.
/m:ticks2 specifies the number of clock ticks that PRINT keeps control during its time slice. The default is 2 and the range is 1 to 255.
/s:ticks3 specifies the number of clock ticks that PRINT controls the operating system during its time slice. The default is 8 and the range is 1 to 255.
/q:size specifies the number of files that can be held in the print queue. The default is 10 and the range is between 1 and 32.
/t stops all printing and empties the print queue. If a page is being printed the printer will stop and eject the page.
filename is the name of the file to be printed. This can include multiple files and wildcards.
/c cancels printing of all files before this switch until a /p switch is found.
/p adds all files before this switch until a /c switch is found

PRINT on its own displays a list of files in the print queue.

Comments

PRINT is from the days before Win9x had a separate printer manager to handle printing. It should not be used on a drive that has been ASSIGNed. It should also not be used in a second copy of COMMAND.COM (i.e. a "shell to DOS" or after a COMMAND command) as this can cause the computer to become unstable.

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