How to set default printer in Linux or Unix

If you are using terminal setup in Unix systems like Linux, you can configure your default printer by:

1. csh shell version (by editing ~/.cshrc or ~/.tcshrc configuration files)

setenv PRINTER your-printer-name

2. bash shell version (by editing ~/.bashrc configuration file)

export PRINTER=your-printer-name

If CUPS is available in your system, you may issue the following command to have this change:

lpoptions -d printer-name

The ‘d’ option sets the default printer.

In the case of Ubuntu Linux, you can just go System->Administration->Printing to set up a printer as the default printer. Just click the Make default button on the Settings tab.