Common content types
Content types appear similar to printer type names, but you can choose names that are meaningful to people using the printer.
Content type names must contain no more than 14 characters and may include only letters, digits, and underscores. The following table lists and describes some accepted content types.
Commonly used content types
| Types | Description |
|---|---|
| cif | Output of BSD cifpbt |
| daisy | Print files intended for a Diablo 630 (daisy-wheel) printer |
| dmd | Print the contents of a bit-mapped display from a terminal |
| fortran | ASA carriage control format |
| otroff | CAT typesetter instructions generated by BSD or pre-System V troff (old troff) |
| pcl | HP LaserJet native output format |
| plot | Plotting instructions for Tektronix displays and devices |
| postscript | PostScript language |
| raster | Raster bitmap format for Varian raster devices |
| simple | ASCII file |
| tek4014 | Print files formatted for a Tektronix 4014 device |
| tex | DVI format files |
| troff | Device-independent output from troff |
When a file is submitted to the print service for printing with the printer specified by the -d any option of the lp command, the print service searches for a printer capable of handling the job. The print service can identify an appropriate printer through either the content type name or the printer type name. Therefore, you may specify either name (or no name) when submitting a file for printing. If the same content type is printable by several different types of printers, use the same content type names when you add those printers. This makes it easier for the people using the printers because they can use the same name to identify the type of file they want printed, regardless of the printing destination.
Most manufacturers produce printers that accept simple ASCII files. While these printers are different types (and thus have different initialization control sequences), they may all be capable of handling the same type of file, which we call simple. Several manufacturers may produce printers that accept ANSI X3.64 defined escape sequences. However, the printers may not support all the ANSI capabilities; they may support different sets of capabilities. You may want to differentiate them by assigning different content type names for these printers.