Printing ASCII files on a PostScript printer

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The Text Formatting System includes the enscript filter for converting ASCII print files to PostScript files for printing on a PostScript printer.

  • The printer must be physically attached to your system.
  • The printer must be configured and defined.
  • The transcript portion of Text Formatting Services must be installed.
The enscript filter is called by the qprt -da command when submitting a print job to a PostScript print queue. Several flags may be specified with the qprt command to customize the output when submitting ASCII files to a PostScript print queue:
Item Descriptor
-1+ Adds page headings.
-2+ Formats the output in two columns.
-3+ Prints the page headings, dates, and page numbers in a fancy style. This is sometimes referred to as "gaudy" mode.
-4+ Prints the file, even if it contains unprintable characters.
-5+ Lists characters that are not included in a font.
-h string Specifies a string to be used for page headings. If this flag is not specified, the heading consists of the file name, modification date, and page number.
-l value Specifies the maximum number of lines printed per page. Depending on the point size, fewer lines per page might actually be displayed.
-L! Truncates lines longer than the page width.
-p Specifies the point size. If this flag is not specified, a point size of 10 is assumed, unless two-column rotated mode (-2+ -z1) is specified, in which case a value of 7 is used.
-s Specifies the font style. If this flag is not specified, the Courier font is used. The PostScript printer must have access to the specified font. Acceptable values are:
  • Courier-Oblique
  • Helvetica
  • Helvetica-Oblique
  • Helvetica-Narrow
  • Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
  • NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
  • Optima
  • Optima-Oblique
  • Palatino-Roman
  • Palatino-Italic
  • Times-Roman
  • Times-Italic
-z1 Rotates the output 90 degrees (landscape mode).
The following list contains examples of how these qrpt command flags can be used:
  • To send the ACSII file myfile.ascii to the PostScript printer named Msps1, type: 
    qprt -da -PMsps1 myfile.ascii
  • To send the ACSII file myfile.ascii to the PostScript printer named Msps1 and print out in the Helvetica font, type: 
    qprt -da -PMsps1 -sHelvetica myfile.ascii
  • To send the ASCII file myfile.ascii to the PostScript printer named Msps1 and print out in the point size 9, type: 
    qprt -da -PMsps1 -p9 myfile.ascii