Get all available printers in OS X using Python

Answer Option 1

To get a list of all available printers on macOS using Python, you can utilize the cups library, which is a Python binding for the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) APIs. CUPS provides a way to manage printers and print jobs on Unix-based systems, including macOS. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Install the pycups Library: If you haven’t already, you need to install the pycups library using pip. Open a terminal and run:

pip install pycups

2. Python Code to List Printers: Create a Python script or add the following code to an existing script to list all available printers:

import cups

def get_available_printers():
    conn = cups.Connection()
    printers = conn.getPrinters()
    return printers

if __name__ == "__main__":
    available_printers = get_available_printers()
    print("Available Printers:")
    for printer in available_printers:
        print(printer, available_printers[printer]["device-uri"])

Save the script with a .py extension (e.g., list_printers.py).

      3. Run the Script: Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you saved the script. Run the script using            the pythoncommand:

python list_printers.py

The script will output a list of available printers along with their device URIs.

Please note that the availability of printers might depend on the current user’s privileges and system configuration. The cups library provides additional methods for interacting with printers and print jobs, so you can explore its documentation for more advanced functionality if needed.

 

Answer Option 2

To get a list of all available printers in macOS using Python, you can utilize the subprocess module to execute the lpstat command, which provides information about print queues and printers. Here’s how you can achieve this:

import subprocess

def get_available_printers():
    try:
        # Run the 'lpstat' command to get printer information
        lpstat_output = subprocess.check_output(['lpstat', '-a'], universal_newlines=True)

        # Split the output into lines
        lpstat_lines = lpstat_output.split('\n')

        # Extract printer names from the lines
        printer_names = []
        for line in lpstat_lines:
            parts = line.split(' ')
            if len(parts) > 0:
                printer_name = parts[0]
                printer_names.append(printer_name)

        return printer_names

    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        print("Error: Unable to retrieve printer information")
        return []

# Get the list of available printers
available_printers = get_available_printers()

# Print the list of printer names
for printer in available_printers:
    print(printer)

This script defines a function get_available_printers() that runs the lpstat -a command and extracts printer names from the output. The names are then printed to the console.

Remember that this script requires proper permissions to access printer information. You might need to run the script with administrative privileges if you encounter permission issues.

Please note that macOS updates or changes to the lpstat command could affect the behavior of this script. Always test the script in your specific environment to ensure it works as expected.