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Out-Printer

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility

Sends output to a printer.

Syntax

Out-Printer
   [[-Name] <String>]
   [-InputObject <PSObject>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Out-Printer cmdlet sends output to the default printer or to an alternate printer, if one is specified.

Examples

Example 1: Print the content of a help topic to the default printer

PS C:\> Get-Content $pshome\about_signing.help.txt | Out-Printer

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.

Example 2: Print text to an alternative printer

PS C:\> "Hello, World" | Out-Printer -Name "\\Server01\Prt-6B Color"

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.

Example 3: Print the full version of a help topic to the default printer

PS C:\> $H = Get-Help -Full Get-WmiObject
PS C:\> Out-Printer -InputObject $H

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.

Parameters

-InputObject

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.

Type:PSObject
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Name

Specifies the alternate printer. The parameter name Name is optional.

Type:String
Aliases:PrinterName
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

PSObject

You can pipe any object to Out-Printer.

Outputs

None

Out-Printer does not return any objects.

Notes

  • 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 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.