I am trying to print from php to a remote printer from the server, my code looks like:

<?php
system("a2ps text.txt");
?>

One would think this would send the file to the default printer, the system("ls"); works and will output the directory information to the webpage. I have also tried system("cat text.txt | a2ps"); all of the commands will work from the command line and send to the printer correctly. The thing is, none of the printing works from inside php. I have also tried calling a program and a script (both local realative to the php file) with system and niether worked. Any help, please?

just a guess:
your php runs under a user that is not allowed to print