Printing directly from PHP using printer_write() function

Question

I found a code printing directly from PHP:

$printer = "cups-pdf";
$ph = printer_open($printer);
if ($ph) {
    $content = "Hello World...";
    printer_set_option($ph, PRINTER_MODE, "RAW");
    printer_write($ph, $content);
    printer_close($ph);
} else {
    echo "Couldn't connect...";
}

I'm trying to test it using XAMPP on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. But it gives me an error:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function printer_open() in /opt/lampp/htdocs/test/test.php on line 4`

How do I fix it?

Answer 1

Currently, there is no way to install the Printer extension as it is Windows-only. There is no config*.m4(for Unix-like systems) file in the source, only config.w32(for Windows).

It is also written in the PECL package description:

Printer allows drawing (text, lines, ellipse, paging, etc.) and spool controlling operation using a printer device on Windows.