Out-Printer
Applies To: Windows PowerShell 2.0
Sends output to a printer.
Out-Printer [[-Name] <string>] [-InputObject <psobject>] [<CommonParameters>]
The Out-Printer cmdlet sends output to the default printer or to an alternate printer, if one is specified.
Specifies the objects to be sent to the printer. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects.
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
true (ByValue) |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
Specifies the alternate printer. The parameter name ("Name") is optional.
Required? |
false |
Position? |
1 |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
This command supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug, ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, OutBuffer, OutVariable, WarningAction, and WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.
The input type is the type of the objects that you can pipe to the cmdlet. The return type is the type of the objects that the cmdlet returns.
Inputs |
System.Management.Automation.PSObject You can pipe any object to Out-Printer. |
Outputs |
None Out-Printer does not return any objects. |
You can also refer to Out-Printer by its built-in alias, "lp". For more information, see about_Aliases.
The cmdlets that contain the Out verb (the Out cmdlets) do not format objects; they just render them and send them to the specified display destination. If you send an unformatted object to an Out cmdlet, the cmdlet sends it to a formatting cmdlet before rendering it.
The Out cmdlets do not have parameters for names or file paths. To send data to an Out cmdlet, use a pipeline operator (|) to send the output of a Windows PowerShell command to the cmdlet. You can also store data in a variable and use the InputObject parameter to pass the data to the cmdlet. For more information, see the examples.
Out-Printer sends data, but it does not emit any output objects. If you pipe the output of Out-Printer to Get-Member, Get-Member reports that no objects have been specified.
C:\PS>get-content $pshome\about_signing.help.txt | Out-Printer
Description
-----------
This command prints the content of the about_Signing Help topic to the default printer. This example shows you how to print a file, even though Out-Printer does not have a Path parameter.
The command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the contents of the Help topic. The path includes $pshome, a built-in variable that stores the installation directory for Windows PowerShell. A pipeline operator (|) passes the results to Out-Printer, which sends it to the default printer.
C:\PS>"Hello, World" | out-printer -name "\\Server01\Prt-6B Color"
Description
-----------
This command prints "Hello, World" to the "Prt-6B Color" printer on Server01. This command uses the Name parameter to specify the alternate printer. Because the parameter name is optional, you can omit it.
C:\PS>$h = get-help -full get-wmiobject
C:\PS> out-printer -inputobject $h
Description
-----------
These commands print the full version of the Help topic for Get-WmiObject. The first command uses the Get-Help cmdlet to get the full version of the Help topic for Get-WmiObject and stores it in the $h variable. The second command sends the content to the default printer. It uses the InputObject parameter to pass the value of the $h variable to Out-Printer.