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NAME ftp - file transfer program
SYNOPSIS ftp [-g] [-i] [-n] [-v] [-B size] [server-host]
DESCRIPTION ftp is a user interface to the File Transfer Protocol. ftp copies files over a network connection between the local ``client'' host and a remote ``server'' host. ftp runs on the client host.
Options The ftp command supports the following options:
-g Disable file name ``globbing''; see the glob command, below. By default, when this option is not specified, globbing is enabled.
-i Disable interactive prompting by multiple-file commands; see the prompt command, below. By default, when this option is not specified, prompting is enabled.
-n Disable ``auto-login''; see the open command, below. By default, when this option is not specified, auto-login is enabled.
-v Enable verbose output; see the verbose command, below. If this option is not specified, ftp displays verbose output only if the standard input is associated with a terminal.
-B Set the buffer size of the data socket to size blocks of 1024 bytes. The valid range for size is an integer from 1 to 64 (default is 56). Note: A large buffer size will improve the performance of ftp on fast links (e.g., FDDI), but may cause long connection times on slow links (e.g., X.25).
The name of the server host that ftp communicates with can be specified on the command line. If the server host is specified, ftp immediately opens a connection to the server host; see the open command, below. Otherwise, ftp waits for commands from the user.
File Transfer Protocol specifies file transfer parameters for type, mode, form, and struct. ftp supports the ASCII, binary, and tenex File Transfer Protocol types. ASCII is the default FTP type. (It should be noted though that, whenever ftp establishes a connection between two similar systems, it switches automatically to the more efficient binary type.) ftp supports only the default values for the file transfer parameters mode which defaults to stream, form which defaults to non-print, and struct which defaults to file.
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COMMANDS ftp supports the following commands. Command arguments with embedded spaces must be enclosed in quotes (for example, "argument with embedded spaces").
![command [args]] Invoke a shell on the local host. The SHELL environment variable specifies which shell program to invoke. ftp invokes /usr/bin/sh if SHELL is undefined. If command is specified, the shell executes it and returns to ftp. Otherwise, an interactive shell is invoked. When the shell terminates, it returns to ftp.
$ 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 is prompted for an account password in a non-echoing input mode.
append local-file [remote-file] Copy local-file to the end of remote-file. 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.
ascii Set the file transfer type to network ASCII. This is the default type.
bell Sound a bell after each file transfer completes.
binary Set the file transfer type to binary.
bye Close the connection to the server host if a connection was open, and exit. Typing an end-of-file (EOF) character also terminates and exits the session.
case Toggle remote computer file name case mapping during mget commands. When case is on (the default is off), remote computer file names with all letters in uppercase are written in the local directory with the letters mapped to lowercase.
cd remote-directory Set the working directory on the server host to remote-directory.
cdup Set the working directory on the server host to the parent of the current remote working directory.
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chmod mode file-name Change the permission modes of the file file-name on the remote system to mode.
close Terminate the connection to the server host. The close command does not exit ftp. 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 line-feed record delimiter. Records on non-UNIX remote systems may contain single line-feeds; when an ascii type transfer is made, these line-feeds can be distinguished from a record delimiter only when cr is off.
delete remote-file Delete remote-file. The remote-file can be an empty directory. No globbing is done.
dir [remote-directory] [local-file] Write a remote-directory listing to standard output or optionally to local-file. If neither remote-directory nor local-file is specified, list the remote working directory to standard output. If interactive prompting is on, ftp prompts the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target file for dir output. Globbing characters are always expanded.
disconnect A synonym for close.
form format Set the file transfer form to format. The only supported format is non-print
get remote-file [local-file] Copy remote-file to local-file. If local-file is unspecified, ftp uses the specified remote-file name as the local-file name, subject to alteration by the current case, ntrans, and nmap settings.
glob Toggle file name globbing. When file name globbing is enabled, ftp expands csh(1) metacharacters in file and directory names. These characters are *, ?, [, ], ~, {, and }. The server host expands remote file and directory names. Globbing metacharacters are always expanded for the ls and dir commands. If globbing is enabled, metacharacters are also expanded for the multiple-file commands mdelete, mdir, mget, mls, and mput.
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hash Toggle printing of a hash-sign (#) for each 1024 bytes transferred.
help [command] Print an informative message about the ftp command called ftp- command. If ftp-command is unspecified, print a list of all ftp commands.
idle [seconds] Set the inactivity timer on the remote server to seconds seconds. If seconds is omitted, ftp prints the current inactivity timer.
lcd [local-directory] Set the local working directory to local-directory. If local- directory is unspecified, set the local working directory to the user's local home directory.
ls [remote-directory] [local-file] Write a listing of remote-directory to local-file. The listing includes any system-dependent information that the server chooses to include; for example, most UNIX systems produce output from the command ls -l (see also nlist). If neither remote-directory nor local-file is specified, list the remote working directory. If globbing is enabled, globbing metacharacters are expanded.
macdef macro-name Define a macro. Subsequent lines are stored as the macro macro- name; an empty input line 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 $ followed by a number (or numbers) is replaced by the corresponding argument on the macro invocation command line. A $ followed by an i signals to the 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 command 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 remote-files. If globbing is enabled, globbing metacharacters are expanded.
mdir remote-files local-file Write a listing of remote-files to local-file. If globbing is enabled, globbing metacharacters are expanded. If interactive prompting is on, ftp prompts the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target local file for mdir output.
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mget remote-files Copy remote-files to the local system. If globbing is enabled, globbing metacharacters are expanded. The resulting local file names are processed according to case, ntrans, and nmap settings.
mkdir directory-name Create remote directory-name.
mls remote-files local-file Write an abbreviated listing of remote-files to local-file. If globbing is enabled, globbing metacharacters are expanded. If interactive prompting is on, ftp prompts the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target local file for mls output.
mode [mode-name] Set the FTP file transfer mode to mode-name. The only supported mode is stream.
modtime remote-file Show the last modification time of remote-file.
mput local-files Copy local-files from the local system to the remote system. The remote files have the same name as the local files processed according to ntrans and nmap settings. If globbing is enabled, globbing characters are expanded.
newer file-name 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 identical to get.
nlist [remote-directory] [local-file] Write an abbreviated listing of remote-directory to local-file. If remote-directory is left unspecified, the current working directory is used. If interactive prompting is on, ftp prompts the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target local file for nlist output.
nmap [inpattern outpattern] Set or unset the filename mapping mechanism. If no arguments 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 specified, local filenames are mapped 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 practices. The mapping follows the pattern set by inpattern and outpattern. inpattern is a template for incoming filenames
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(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 treatment 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 replaced 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 example, 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 can 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 translation 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 practices. 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 server-host [port-number] Establish a connection to server-host, using port-number (if specified). If auto-login is enabled, ftp attempts to log into the server host.
prompt Toggle interactive prompting. By default, ftp prompts the user for a yes or no response for each output file during multiple- file commands. If interactive prompting is disabled, ftp performs the command for all specified files.
proxy ftp-command Execute an ftp command on a secondary control connection. This command allows simultaneous connection to two remote FTP servers
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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 connection. The following commands behave differently when prefaced by proxy: open does not define new macros during the auto-login process, close does 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 command by the server on the secondary control connection.
put local-file [remote-file] Copy local-file to remote-file. If remote-file is unspecified, ftp assigns the local-file name, processed according to any ntrans or nmap settings, to the remote-file name.
pwd Write the name of the remote working directory to stdout.
quit A synonym for bye.
quote arguments Send arguments, verbatim, to the server host. See ftpd(1M).
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 command is useful when transferring very large files over networks that tend to drop connections.
rhelp [command-name] Request help from the server host. If command-name is specified, supply it to the server. See ftpd(1M).
rstatus [file-name] With no arguments, show status of remote machine. If file-name is specified, show status of file-name on remote machine.
rename remote-from remote-to Rename remote-from, which can be either a file or a directory, to remote-to.
reset Clear reply queue. This command re-synchronizes command/reply
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sequencing with the remote FTP server. Resynchronization 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 indicated marker. On UNIX systems, marker is usually a byte offset into the file.
rmdir remote-directory Delete remote-directory. remote-directory must be an empty directory.
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 message is printed, and the transfer does not take place. ftp reports the unique filename. Note that runique does 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 attempts to use a PORT command when establishing a connection for each data transfer. If the PORT command fails, ftp uses the default data port. When the use of PORT commands is disabled, ftp makes no attempt to use PORT commands for each data transfer. This is useful for certain FTP implementations that ignore PORT commands but (incorrectly) indicate that they've been accepted. See ftpd(1M). Turning sendport off may cause delays in the execution of commands.
site arguments Send arguments, verbatim, to the server host as a SITE command. See ftpd(1M).
size remote-file Show the size of remote-file.
status Show the current status of ftp.
struct [struct-name] Set the FTP file transfer struct to struct-name. The only supported struct is file.
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sunique Toggle storing of files on remote machine under unique file names. The remote server reports the unique name. By default, sunique is off.
system Show the type of operating system running on the remote machine.
tenex Set the FTP file transfer type to tenex.
type [type-name] Set the FTP file transfer type to type-name. If type-name is unspecified, write the current type to stdout. Ascii, binary, and tenex are the types currently supported.
umask [newmask] Set the default umask on the remote server to newmask. If newmask is omitted, the current umask is printed.
user user-name [password] [account] Log into the server host on the current connection, which must already be open. A .netrc file in the user's local home directory can provide the user-name, password, and optionally the account; see netrc(4). Otherwise ftp prompts the user for this information. The HP-UX FTP server does not require an account. For security reasons, ftp always requires a password. It does not log into remote accounts that do not have a password.
verbose Toggle verbose output. If verbose output is enabled, ftp displays responses from the server host, and when a file transfer completes it reports statistics regarding the efficiency of the transfer.
? [command] A synonym for the help command. Prints the help information for the specified command.
Aborting A File Transfer To abort a file transfer, use the terminal interrupt key (usually Ctrl-C). Sending transfers are halted immediately. ftp halts incoming (receive) transfers by first sending a FTP protocol ABOR command to the remote server, then discarding any further received data. 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 does not appear until the remote server completes sending the requested file.
The terminal interrupt key sequence is ignored while ftp awaits a reply from the remote server. A long delay in this mode may result
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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 manually.
File Naming Conventions Files specified as arguments to ftp commands are processed according to the following rules.
+ If the file name - is specified, ftp uses the standard input (for reading) or standard output (for writing).
+ If the first character of the file name is |, ftp interprets the remainder of the argument as a shell command. ftp forks a shell, using popen() (see popen(3S)) with the supplied argument, and reads (writes) from standard output (standard input). If the shell command includes spaces, the argument must be quoted, as in:
"| ls -lt".
A particularly useful example of this mechanism is:
"| dir . | more".
+ Otherwise, if globbing is enabled, ftp expands local file names according to the rules used by the C shell (see csh(1)); see the glob command, below. If the ftp command expects a single local file (e.g. put), only the first filename generated by the globbing operation is used.
+ For mget commands and get commands with unspecified local file names, the local filename is named the same as 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.
+ For mput commands and put commands with unspecified remote file names, the remote filename is named the same as 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.
WARNINGS Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper behavior by the remote server.
AUTHOR ftp was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
SEE ALSO csh(1), rcp(1), ftpd(1M), netrc(4), ftpusers(4), hosts(4).
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