How do I send or print the text of a tkinter's Text widget to a printer?

Question

I am currently building a tkinter text editing application with python. I'd love to have a function that enables text to be printed out on paper like one will do one Microsoftword and other text editors, if a printer is connected, but I do not know how to go about solving this.

You could research for some things first. Also your problem is not summared in the title. It's not clear from your question if you want to create a button or a function to print a file. — Jakub Bláha, Apr 25 '18 at 13:01
Take a look at here http://timgolden.me.uk/python/win32_how_do_i/print.html — Jakub Bláha, Apr 25 '18 at 14:11
I have edited your question. Honestly, it was not clear what you wanted to print. Please, re-edit the question if my changes do not reflect your needs. — nbro, Apr 25 '18 at 14:11

Xantium · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-25T17:05:02.507

2

Part of your problem:

Using this answer should work.

So create a function with a variable to store your text in (or read from a file and then pass it as a variable) and just call your function with a simple button:

def to_printer(text):
    import subprocess
    lpr =  subprocess.Popen("/usr/bin/lpr", stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    lpr.stdin.write(text)

print_button = tk.Button(text="print", command=to_printer)
print_button.pack()

edited Apr 25 '18 at 17:05

answered Apr 25 '18 at 12:25

Xantium

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Thankyou Simon for your answer. I have tried this but nothing happens please can you tell me how to solve this – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 16:59
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@FredRawllings I think this was a mistake my end. I updated my code. If this still does not work do you get any errors?, does the function actually execute. I need more information (I don't know your code)... – Xantium Apr 25 '18 at 17:06
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Thankyou simon your answer update works. But now the problem I have is saving the text to a variable.I first converted it to bytes, I give a print command but the printer prints nothing. – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 17:15
@FredRawllings Do you get any errors? Is it in printer queue? – Xantium Apr 25 '18 at 17:21
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No it is not. What I mean it the paper gets into the printer and then gets out with no text printed on it – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 17:25
Hmm odd. Is the text is actually stored in the variable before printing? – Xantium Apr 25 '18 at 17:27
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Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/169787/discussion-between-fred-rawllings-and-simon). – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 17:29
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Thank you simon after some little research I got it to work. Your help was really awesome – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 18:00
Sorry Simon I taught I got the answer but I did not. This worked just once but refused to work the next time i run it here is my code – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 19:22
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def to_printer(): lpr = subprocess.Popen("/usr/bin/lpr", stdin=subprocess.PIPE) lpr.stdin.write(text2) to_printer() – Delalie Rawllings Apr 25 '18 at 19:22
@FredRawllings Please see in [Chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/169787/discussion-between-fred-rawllings-and-simon) – Xantium Apr 25 '18 at 19:30
text = "Hello world".encode() – Sergey Shamanayev Apr 23 '20 at 10:19

How do I send or print the text of a tkinter's Text widget to a printer?

1 Answers1