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I am currently developing an application in Python that will run on Macs and will need to print PDF files. In the past I have managed to send PDF files to printer automatically by using some commands in a Bash script. However, I never found a way to specify one printer, it would always send it right into the currently selected printer (usually the last used one).

Does anyone know if there any way to launch the Preview application from command line, or any other way to preview and choose printers before actually printing?

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  • How (with which commands) did you send files directly to the printer?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Mar 14, 2017 at 9:34
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    In my Bash script, I use for instance pdfsplit $FILENAME 3 |lpr to print page 3 of a PDF file coming from the previous action. I can also specify more pages, adding their numbers with a space between each of them.
    – Victor Domingos
    Commented Mar 14, 2017 at 10:58
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    Please don't cross-post (stackoverflow.com/questions/42781944/…), it just leads to duplicated effort
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 8:59
  • I understand the point and I surely respect it, but isn't it the fact that it can be more likely to find a solution if the question is posed to two potentially different groups of people? Which in turn ends up with benefit for all. In this case, there is a Python side, which may be answered by Python focused people, and there is a Mac specific issue that may be better understood by those who know well macOS X, but may or may not be knowledgeable in Python, after all.
    – Victor Domingos
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 9:32
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    It's usually better to post in one place only and, if you don't get answers, have it migrated to other matching sites. The python answer you got basically wraps the standard Unix commands for printer interaction into a user-friendly UI.
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 9:53

1 Answer 1

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  • lpstat shows all printers known to the system
  • lpr -P NAME prints to printer NAME
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  • Ok, that is a progress. I could try to get the available printers and then let the user choose among them, or set it once when installing the application.
    – Victor Domingos
    Commented Mar 14, 2017 at 12:12
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    Just want to add that another user has come up with a full working Python code for this: stackoverflow.com/a/42786187/6167478
    – Victor Domingos
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 8:19

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