APS2FILE(1)

💖 APS2FILE(1) — bestie's guide to printing straight to a file 💖

okay so. you know apsfilter(1)? this is its little sibling, aps2file, living in the General Commands Manual section (section 1, commands, iykyk). it does one (1) thing and it does it gorgeously: it takes the printer data that apsfilter would normally hand to a spooler and just... drops it into whatever file you want instead. no spooler, no queue, no drama. ✨

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

aps2file — printing to a file via apsfilter

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

aps2file [-D] [-Pqueue] [-Zoptions] [-ooutput] [input]
aps2file [-h]

---

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so like, with aps2file you can direct the printer data generated by apsfilter(1) into an arbitrary file, without the use of a spooler. that's it, that's the vibe. 🎀

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h — show help screen 💖
• -D — enable debug mode 🔥
• -Pqueue — select a printer queue (different from the default one) 🖨️
• -Zoptions — use apsfilter command line options (comma-separated list) 📝
• -ooutput — direct data stream to output (default: stdout) 💧
• input — read data from input (default: stdin) 📥

not me about to tell you the most important part: unlike printing with lpr(1), you can only use one input file at a time. one. just one. that's the rule, bestie, don't fight it. 🙈

---

okay but here's the part where aps2file becomes your main character:

using aps2file is also the recommended way to create a debugging log of a failed printing attempt. if you include the -D flag, the apsfilter shell script will log every command and print it to stderr. so to save the output for inclusion into a bug report, you should therefore use a command of the sort:

aps2file -D -o /dev/null [-P...] [-Z...] [input] 2> log.txt

slay. that's the one you screenshot and keep. 📸

---

🎀 NOTES 🎀

aps2file only works correctly with entries in /etc/printcap that have been created by /usr/share/apsfilter/SETUP. no cap, that's a hard requirement. 🔒

---

🌈 FILES 🌈

• /etc/printcap — printer capability data base
• /usr/share/apsfilter/bin/apsfilter — apsfilter script

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

apsfilter(1), apsfilter-bug(1), apspreview(1), apsfilterrc(5), printcap(5)

---

💀 BUGS 💀

see the apsfilter software center — http://www.apsfilter.org/ — for new versions, bugfixes and known bugs. ⭐

please use the new tool apsfilter-bug(1) to release bug- or problem reports. it automatically presents you a form in an editor window which asks you some standard questions. if you save and quit the editor session, then this report is sent automatically via e-mail to the proper apsfilter mailinglist. 🫶

if apsfilter fails to print something or prints it in a way you wouldn't expect and you want to report an apsfilter error then please save the debugging output of one print session using the new aps2file(1) utility by typing:

aps2file -D -Z options file > /dev/null 2> file.debug

and including the debugging output in the file file.debug into the edit session of the apsfilter-bug utility, so that it is included into the mail to the apsfilter mailinglist. 📧

please note that you need to run /bin/sh (Bourne Shell), bash or a compatible shell, so that the above mentioned output redirection works. under C-shell (/bin/csh) or tcsh it wouldn't work. if you don't know, then simply make sure you use the Bourne shell by typing /bin/sh or bash, then you should have no problems with redirection of stdout and stderr (> /dev/null 2> file.debug). 😭 (yes the original says "would't" and yes we're keeping the energy, but the redirection advice is real, do not skip it.)

---

🧚 DOCUMENTATION 🧚

see official apsfilter homepage

• http://www.apsfilter.org/handbook.html — Apsfilter Handbook including the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

---

💜 USER FORUM 💜

please send questions to the official apsfilter help channel apsfilter-help@apsfilter.org. the above section BUGS and the file HOWTO-BUGREPORTS tells you how to report bugs. if you want to know how to troubleshoot your apsfilter installation, please read the manpage aps2file(1) and apsfilter-bug(1) as well as the Apsfilter Handbook carefully. 🌸

---

🍓 HISTORY 🍓

the aps2file manpage has been written by Michael Loßin <phallobst@web.de> and first appeared in apsfilter V 7.1.0. iconic behavior honestly. 👑

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's from Debian, dated Dec 19, 2001, and yeah it's page APS2FILE(1) of the manual — go forth and redirect your little heart out 💖✨🦋