FTP linux command manual

FTP(1)                       BSD General Commands Manual                   FTP(1)

NAME
     ftp - Internet file transfer program

SYNOPSIS
     ftp [-pinegvd] [host]
     pftp [-inegvd] [host]

DESCRIPTION
     Ftp is the user interface to the Internet standard File Transfer Proto-
     col.  The program allows a user to transfer files to and from a remote
     network site.

     Options may be specified at the command line, or to the command inter-
     preter.

     -p    Use passive mode for data transfers. Allows use of ftp in environ-
           ments where a firewall prevents connections from the outside world
           back to the client machine. Requires that the ftp server support
           the PASV command. This is the default now for all clients (ftp and
           pftp) due to security concerns using the PORT transfer mode.  The
           flag is kept for compatibility only and has no effect anymore.

     -i    Turns off interactive prompting during multiple file transfers.

     -n    Restrains ftp from attempting "auto-login" upon initial connec-
           tion.  If auto-login is enabled, ftp will check the .netrc (see
           netrc(5)) file in the user's home directory for an entry describ-
           ing an account on the remote machine.  If no entry exists, ftp
           will prompt for the remote machine login name (default is the user
           identity on the local machine), and, if necessary, prompt for a
           password and an account with which to login.

     -e    Disables command editing and history support, if it was compiled
           into the ftp executable. Otherwise, does nothing.

     -g    Disables file name globbing.

     -v    Verbose option forces ftp to show all responses from the remote
           server, as well as report on data transfer statistics.

     -d    Enables debugging.

     The client host with which ftp is to communicate may be specified on the
     command line.  If this is done, ftp will immediately attempt to estab-
     lish a connection to an FTP server on that host; otherwise, ftp will
     enter its command interpreter and await instructions from the user.
     When ftp is awaiting commands from the user the prompt 'ftp>' is pro-
     vided to the user.  The following commands are recognized by ftp:

     ! [command [args]]
                 Invoke an interactive shell on the local machine.  If there
                 are arguments, the first is taken to be a command to execute
                 directly, with the rest of the arguments as its arguments.

     $ macro-name [args]
                 Execute the macro macro-name that was defined with the
                 macdef command.  Arguments are passed to the macro
                 unglobbed.

     account [passwd]
                 Supply a supplemental password required by a remote system
                 for access to resources once a login has been successfully
                 completed.  If no argument is included, the user will be
                 prompted for an account password in a non-echoing input
                 mode.

     append local-file [remote-file]
                 Append a local file to a file on the remote machine.  If
                 remote-file is left unspecified, the local file name is used
                 in naming the remote file after being altered by any ntrans
                 or nmap setting.  File transfer uses the current settings
                 for type, format, mode, and structure.

     ascii       Set the file transfer type to network ASCII.  This is the
                 default type.

     bell        Arrange that a bell be sounded after each file transfer com-
                 mand is completed.

     binary      Set the file transfer type to support binary image transfer.

     bye         Terminate the FTP session with the remote server and exit
                 ftp.  An end of file will also terminate the session and
                 exit.

     case        Toggle remote computer file name case mapping during mget
                 commands.  When case is on (default is off), remote computer
                 file names with all letters in upper case are written in the
                 local directory with the letters mapped to lower case.

     cd remote-directory
                 Change the working directory on the remote machine to
                 remote-directory.

     cdup        Change the remote machine working directory to the parent of
                 the current remote machine working directory.

     chmod mode file-name
                 Change the permission modes of the file file-name on the
                 remote sytem to mode.

     close       Terminate the FTP session with the remote server, and return
                 to the command interpreter.  Any defined macros are erased.

     cr          Toggle carriage return stripping during ascii type file
                 retrieval.  Records are denoted by a carriage return/line-
                 feed sequence during ascii type file transfer.  When cr is
                 on (the default), carriage returns are stripped from this
                 sequence to conform with the UNIX single linefeed record
                 delimiter.  Records on non-UNIX remote systems may contain
                 single linefeeds; when an ascii type transfer is made, these
                 linefeeds may be distinguished from a record delimiter only
                 when cr is off.

     delete remote-file
                 Delete the file remote-file on the remote machine.

     debug [debug-value]
                 Toggle debugging mode.  If an optional debug-value is speci-
                 fied it is used to set the debugging level.  When debugging
                 is on, ftp prints each command sent to the remote machine,
                 preceded by the string '-->'

     dir [remote-directory] [local-file]
                 Print a listing of the directory contents in the directory,
                 remote-directory, and, optionally, placing the output in
                 local-file.  If interactive prompting is on, ftp will prompt
                 the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the tar-
                 get local file for receiving dir output.  If no directory is
                 specified, the current working directory on the remote
                 machine is used.  If no local file is specified, or
                 local-file is -, output comes to the terminal.

     disconnect  A synonym for close.

     form format
                 Set the file transfer form to format.  The default format is
                 "file".

     get remote-file [local-file]
                 Retrieve the remote-file and store it on the local machine.
                 If the local file name is not specified, it is given the
                 same name it has on the remote machine, subject to alter-
                 ation by the current case, ntrans, and nmap settings.  The
                 current settings for type, form, mode, and structure are
                 used while transferring the file.

     glob        Toggle filename expansion for mdelete, mget and mput.  If
                 globbing is turned off with glob, the file name arguments
                 are taken literally and not expanded.  Globbing for mput is
                 done as in csh(1).  For mdelete and mget, each remote file
                 name is expanded separately on the remote machine and the
                 lists are not merged.  Expansion of a directory name is
                 likely to be different from expansion of the name of an
                 ordinary file: the exact result depends on the foreign oper-
                 ating system and ftp server, and can be previewed by doing
                 'mls remote-files -' Note: mget and mput are not meant to
                 transfer entire directory subtrees of files.  That can be
                 done by transferring a tar(1) archive of the subtree (in
                 binary mode).

     hash        Toggle hash-sign (''#'') printing for each data block trans-
                 ferred.  The size of a data block is 1024 bytes.

     help [command]
                 Print an informative message about the meaning of command.
                 If no argument is given, ftp prints a list of the known com-
                 mands.

     idle [seconds]
                 Set the inactivity timer on the remote server to seconds
                 seconds.  If seconds is ommitted, the current inactivity
                 timer is printed.

     lcd [directory]
                 Change the working directory on the local machine.  If no
                 directory is specified, the user's home directory is used.

     ls [remote-directory] [local-file]
                 Print a listing of the contents of a directory on the remote
                 machine.  The listing includes any system-dependent informa-
                 tion that the server chooses to include; for example, most
                 UNIX systems will produce output from the command 'ls -l'.
                 (See also nlist.)  If remote-directory is left unspecified,
                 the current working directory is used.  If interactive
                 prompting is on, ftp will prompt the user to verify that the
                 last argument is indeed the target local file for receiving
                 ls output.  If no local file is specified, or if local-file
                 is '-', the output is sent to the terminal.

     macdef macro-name
                 Define a macro.  Subsequent lines are stored as the macro
                 macro-name; a null line (consecutive newline characters in a
                 file or carriage returns from the terminal) terminates macro
                 input mode.  There is a limit of 16 macros and 4096 total
                 characters in all defined macros.  Macros remain defined
                 until a close command is executed.  The macro processor
                 interprets '$' and '\' as special characters.  A '$' fol-
                 lowed by a number (or numbers) is replaced by the corre-
                 sponding argument on the macro invocation command line.  A
                 '$' followed by an 'i' signals that macro processor that the
                 executing macro is to be looped.  On the first pass '$i' is
                 replaced by the first argument on the macro invocation com-
                 mand line, on the second pass it is replaced by the second
                 argument, and so on.  A '\' followed by any character is
                 replaced by that character.  Use the '\' to prevent special
                 treatment of the '$'.

     mdelete [remote-files]
                 Delete the remote-files on the remote machine.

     mdir remote-files local-file
                 Like dir, except multiple remote files may be specified.  If
                 interactive prompting is on, ftp will prompt the user to
                 verify that the last argument is indeed the target local
                 file for receiving mdir output.

     mget remote-files
                 Expand the remote-files on the remote machine and do a get
                 for each file name thus produced.  See glob for details on
                 the filename expansion.  Resulting file names will then be
                 processed according to case, ntrans, and nmap settings.
                 Files are transferred into the local working directory,
                 which can be changed with 'lcd directory'; new local direc-
                 tories can be created with '! mkdir directory'.

     mkdir directory-name
                 Make a directory on the remote machine.

     mls remote-files local-file
                 Like nlist, except multiple remote files may be specified,
                 and the local-file must be specified.  If interactive
                 prompting is on, ftp will prompt the user to verify that the
                 last argument is indeed the target local file for receiving
                 mls output.

     mode [mode-name]
                 Set the file transfer mode to mode-name.  The default mode
                 is "stream" mode.

     modtime file-name
                 Show the last modification time of the file on the remote
                 machine.

     mput local-files
                 Expand wild cards in the list of local files given as argu-
                 ments and do a put for each file in the resulting list.  See
                 glob for details of filename expansion.  Resulting file
                 names will then be processed according to ntrans and nmap
                 settings.

     newer file-name [local-file]
                 Get the file only if the modification time of the remote
                 file is more recent that the file on the current system.  If
                 the file does not exist on the current system, the remote
                 file is considered newer.  Otherwise, this command is iden-
                 tical to get.

     nlist [remote-directory] [local-file]
                 Print a  list of the files in a directory on the remote
                 machine.  If remote-directory is left unspecified, the cur-
                 rent working directory is used.  If interactive prompting is
                 on, ftp will prompt the user to verify that the last argu-
                 ment is indeed the target local file for receiving nlist
                 output.  If no local file is specified, or if local-file is
                 -, the output is sent to the terminal.

     nmap [inpattern outpattern]
                 Set or unset the filename mapping mechanism.  If no argu-
                 ments are specified, the filename mapping mechanism is
                 unset.  If arguments are specified, remote filenames are
                 mapped during mput commands and put commands issued without
                 a specified remote target filename.  If arguments are speci-
                 fied, local filenames are mapped during mget commands and
                 get commands issued without a specified local target file-
                 name.  This command is useful when connecting to a non-UNIX
                 remote computer with different file naming conventions or
                 practices.  The mapping follows the pattern set by inpattern
                 and outpattern.  [Inpattern] is a template for incoming
                 filenames (which may have already been processed according
                 to the ntrans and case settings).  Variable templating is
                 accomplished by including the sequences '$1', '$2', ...,
                 '$9' in inpattern.  Use '\' to prevent this special treat-
                 ment of the '$' character.  All other characters are treated
                 literally, and are used to determine the nmap [inpattern]
                 variable values.  For example, given inpattern $1.$2 and the
                 remote file name "mydata.data", $1 would have the value
                 "mydata", and $2 would have the value "data".  The
                 outpattern determines the resulting mapped filename.  The
                 sequences '$1', '$2', ...., '$9' are replaced by any value
                 resulting from the inpattern template.  The sequence '$0' is
                 replace by the original filename.  Additionally, the
                 sequence '[seq1, seq2]' is replaced by [seq1] if seq1 is not
                 a null string; otherwise it is replaced by seq2.  For exam-
                 ple, the command

                       nmap $1.$2.$3 [$1,$2].[$2,file]

                 would yield the output filename "myfile.data" for input
                 filenames "myfile.data" and "myfile.data.old", "myfile.file"
                 for the input filename "myfile", and "myfile.myfile" for the
                 input filename ".myfile".  Spaces may be included in
                 outpattern, as in the example: 'nmap $1 sed "s/  *$//" > $1'
                 .  Use the '\' character to prevent special treatment of the
                 '$','[','[', and ',' characters.

     ntrans [inchars [outchars]]
                 Set or unset the filename character translation mechanism.
                 If no arguments are specified, the filename character trans-
                 lation mechanism is unset.  If arguments are specified,
                 characters in remote filenames are translated during mput
                 commands and put commands issued without a specified remote
                 target filename.  If arguments are specified, characters in
                 local filenames are translated during mget commands and get
                 commands issued without a specified local target filename.
                 This command is useful when connecting to a non-UNIX remote
                 computer with different file naming conventions or prac-
                 tices.  Characters in a filename matching a character in
                 inchars are replaced with the corresponding character in
                 outchars.  If the character's position in inchars is longer
                 than the length of outchars, the character is deleted from
                 the file name.

     open host [port]
                 Establish a connection to the specified host FTP server.  An
                 optional port number may be supplied, in which case, ftp
                 will attempt to contact an FTP server at that port.  If the
                 auto-login option is on (default), ftp will also attempt to
                 automatically log the user in to the FTP server (see below).

     prompt      Toggle interactive prompting.  Interactive prompting occurs
                 during multiple file transfers to allow the user to selec-
                 tively retrieve or store files.  If prompting is turned off
                 (default is on), any mget or mput will transfer all files,
                 and any mdelete will delete all files.

     proxy ftp-command
                 Execute an ftp command on a secondary control connection.
                 This command allows simultaneous connection to two remote
                 ftp servers for transferring files between the two servers.
                 The first proxy command should be an open, to establish the
                 secondary control connection.  Enter the command "proxy ?"
                 to see other ftp commands executable on the secondary con-
                 nection.  The following commands behave differently when
                 prefaced by proxy: open will not define new macros during
                 the auto-login process, close will not erase existing macro
                 definitions, get and mget transfer files from the host on
                 the primary control connection to the host on the secondary
                 control connection, and put, mput, and append transfer files
                 from the host on the secondary control connection to the
                 host on the primary control connection.  Third party file
                 transfers depend upon support of the ftp protocol PASV com-
                 mand by the server on the secondary control connection.

     put local-file [remote-file]
                 Store a local file on the remote machine.  If remote-file is
                 left unspecified, the local file name is used after process-
                 ing according to any ntrans or nmap settings in naming the
                 remote file.  File transfer uses the current settings for
                 type, format, mode, and structure.

     pwd         Print the name of the current working directory on the
                 remote machine.

     quit        A synonym for bye.

     quote arg1 arg2 ...
                 The arguments specified are sent, verbatim, to the remote
                 FTP server.

     recv remote-file [local-file]
                 A synonym for get.

     reget remote-file [local-file]
                 Reget acts like get, except that if local-file exists and is
                 smaller than remote-file, local-file is presumed to be a
                 partially transferred copy of remote-file and the transfer
                 is continued from the apparent point of failure.  This com-
                 mand is useful when transferring very large files over net-
                 works that are prone to dropping connections.

     remotehelp [command-name]
                 Request help from the remote FTP server.  If a command-name
                 is specified it is supplied to the server as well.

     remotestatus [file-name]
                 With no arguments, show status of remote machine.  If
                 file-name is specified, show status of file-name on remote
                 machine.

     rename [from] [to]
                 Rename the file from on the remote machine, to the file to.

     reset       Clear reply queue.  This command re-synchronizes com-
                 mand/reply sequencing with the remote ftp server.  Resyn-
                 chronization may be necessary following a violation of the
                 ftp protocol by the remote server.

     restart marker
                 Restart the immediately following get or put at the indi-
                 cated marker.  On UNIX systems, marker is usually a byte
                 offset into the file.

     rmdir directory-name
                 Delete a directory on the remote machine.

     runique     Toggle storing of files on the local system with unique
                 filenames.  If a file already exists with a name equal to
                 the target local filename for a get or mget command, a ".1"
                 is appended to the name.  If the resulting name matches
                 another existing file, a ".2" is appended to the original
                 name.  If this process continues up to ".99", an error mes-
                 sage is printed, and the transfer does not take place.  The
                 generated unique filename will be reported.  Note that
                 runique will not affect local files generated from a shell
                 command (see below).  The default value is off.

     send local-file [remote-file]
                 A synonym for put.

     sendport    Toggle the use of PORT commands.  By default, ftp will
                 attempt to use a PORT command when establishing a connection
                 for each data transfer.  The use of PORT commands can pre-
                 vent delays when performing multiple file transfers.  If the
                 PORT command fails, ftp will use the default data port.
                 When the use of PORT commands is disabled, no attempt will
                 be made to use PORT commands for each data transfer.  This
                 is useful for certain FTP implementations which do ignore
                 PORT commands but, incorrectly, indicate they've been
                 accepted.

     site arg1 arg2 ...
                 The arguments specified are sent, verbatim, to the remote
                 FTP server as a SITE command.

     size file-name
                 Return size of file-name on remote machine.

     status      Show the current status of ftp.

     struct [struct-name]
                 Set the file transfer structure to struct-name.  By default
                 "stream" structure is used.

     sunique     Toggle storing of files on remote machine under unique file
                 names.  Remote ftp server must support ftp protocol STOU
                 command for successful completion.  The remote server will
                 report unique name.  Default value is off.

     system      Show the type of operating system running on the remote
                 machine.

     tenex       Set the file transfer type to that needed to talk to TENEX
                 machines.

     trace       Toggle packet tracing.

     type [type-name]
                 Set the file transfer type to type-name.  If no type is
                 specified, the current type is printed.  The default type is
                 network ASCII.

     umask [newmask]
                 Set the default umask on the remote server to newmask.  If
                 newmask is ommitted, the current umask is printed.

     user user-name [password] [account]
                 Identify yourself to the remote FTP server.  If the password
                 is not specified and the server requires it, ftp will prompt
                 the user for it (after disabling local echo).  If an account
                 field is not specified, and the FTP server requires it, the
                 user will be prompted for it.  If an account field is speci-
                 fied, an account command will be relayed to the remote
                 server after the login sequence is completed if the remote
                 server did not require it for logging in.  Unless ftp is
                 invoked with "auto-login" disabled, this process is done
                 automatically on initial connection to the FTP server.

     verbose     Toggle verbose mode.  In verbose mode, all responses from
                 the FTP server are displayed to the user.  In addition, if
                 verbose is on, when a file transfer completes, statistics
                 regarding the efficiency of the transfer are reported.  By
                 default, verbose is on.

     ? [command]
                 A synonym for help.

     Command arguments which have embedded spaces may be quoted with quote
     '"' marks.

ABORTING A FILE TRANSFER
     To abort a file transfer, use the terminal interrupt key (usually Ctrl-
     C).  Sending transfers will be immediately halted.  Receiving transfers
     will be halted by sending a ftp protocol ABOR command to the remote
     server, and discarding any further data received.  The speed at which
     this is accomplished depends upon the remote server's support for ABOR
     processing.  If the remote server does not support the ABOR command, an
     'ftp>' prompt will not appear until the remote server has completed
     sending the requested file.

     The terminal interrupt key sequence will be ignored when ftp has com-
     pleted any local processing and is awaiting a reply from the remote
     server.  A long delay in this mode may result from the ABOR processing
     described above, or from unexpected behavior by the remote server,
     including violations of the ftp protocol.  If the delay results from
     unexpected remote server behavior, the local ftp program must be killed
     by hand.

FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS
     Files specified as arguments to ftp commands are processed according to
     the following rules.

     1.   If the file name '-' is specified, the stdin (for reading) or
          stdout (for writing) is used.

     2.   If the first character of the file name is '|', the remainder of
          the argument is interpreted as a shell command.  Ftp then forks a
          shell, using popen(3) with the argument supplied, and reads
          (writes) from the stdout (stdin).  If the shell command includes
          spaces, the argument must be quoted; e.g.  "" ls -lt"".  A particu-
          larly useful example of this mechanism is: "dir more".

     3.   Failing the above checks, if ''globbing'' is enabled, local file
          names are expanded according to the rules used in the csh(1); c.f.
          the glob command.  If the ftp command expects a single local file
          (.e.g.  put), only the first filename generated by the "globbing"
          operation is used.

     4.   For mget commands and get commands with unspecified local file
          names, the local filename is the remote filename, which may be
          altered by a case, ntrans, or nmap setting.  The resulting filename
          may then be altered if runique is on.

     5.   For mput commands and put commands with unspecified remote file
          names, the remote filename is the local filename, which may be
          altered by a ntrans or nmap setting.  The resulting filename may
          then be altered by the remote server if sunique is on.

FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS
     The FTP specification specifies many parameters which may affect a file
     transfer.  The type may be one of "ascii", "image" (binary), "ebcdic",
     and "local byte size" (for PDP-10's and PDP-20's mostly).  Ftp supports
     the ascii and image types of file transfer, plus local byte size 8 for
     tenex mode transfers.

     Ftp supports only the default values for the remaining file transfer
     parameters: mode, form, and struct.

ENVIRONMENT
     Ftp utilizes the following environment variables.

     HOME        For default location of a .netrc file, if one exists.

     SHELL       For default shell.

SEE ALSO
     ftpd(8), RFC 959

HISTORY
     The ftp command appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper behavior by the
     remote server.

     An error in the treatment of carriage returns in the 4.2BSD ascii-mode
     transfer code has been corrected.  This correction may result in incor-
     rect transfers of binary files to and from 4.2BSD servers using the
     ascii type.  Avoid this problem by using the binary image type.

Linux NetKit (0.17)            August 15, 1999            Linux NetKit (0.17)