.\" Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\" @(#)ftp.1 6.2 (Berkeley) %G%
ftp \- ARPANET file transfer program
is the user interface to the ARPANET standard File Transfer Protocol.
\fIFtp\fP transfers files to and from a remote network site.
The client host with which
is to communicate may be specified on the command line.
immediately attempts to establish a connection to an FTP server on that host;
otherwise, \fIftp\fP enters its command interpreter and awaits instructions
from the user. When \fIftp\fP is awaiting commands from the user, it
displays the prompt \*(lqftp>\*(rq. The following commands are recognized
\fB\&! \fR[ \fIcommand \fR]
as a shell command on the local machine.
is given, invoke an interactive shell.
\fBappend\fP \fIlocal-file\fP [ \fIremote-file\fP ]
Append a local file to a file on the remote machine. If
is left unspecified, the local file name is used in naming the
remote file. File transfer uses the current settings for
\*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq, \*(lqfile structure\*(rq,
and \*(lqtransfer mode\*(rq.
Set the \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq
to \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq. This is the default type.
Arrange that a bell be sounded after each file transfer
Set the \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq to \*(lqimage\*(rq.
Terminate the FTP session with the remote server
.BI cd " remote-directory"
Change the working directory on the remote machine
Terminate the FTP session with the remote server, and
return to the command interpreter.
.BI delete " remote-file"
\fBdebug\fP [ \fIdebug-value\fP ]
Toggle debugging mode. If an optional
is specified it is used to set the debugging level.
prints each command sent to the remote machine, preceded
by the string \*(lq-->\*(rq.
\fBdir\fP [ \fIremote-directory\fP ] [ \fIlocal-file\fP ]
Print a listing of the directory contents in the
and, optionally, placing the output in
If no directory is specified, the current working
directory on the remote machine is used. If no local
file is specified, or \fIlocal-file\fP is \fB\-\fP,
output comes to the terminal.
\fBform\fP [ \fIformat-name\fP ]
Set the carriage control format subtype of the
\*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq to
which corresponds to the default \*(lqnon-print\*(rq subtype.
\fBget\fP \fIremote-file\fP [ \fIlocal-file\fP ]
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.
The current settings for \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq,
\*(lqfile structure\*(rq, and \*(lqtransfer mode\*(rq
are used while transferring the file.
Toggle filename expansion, or "globbing",
for \fBmdelete\fP, \fBmget\fP and \fBmput\fP.
If globbing is turned off, filenames are taken literally.
Globbing for \fBmput\fP is done as in \fIcsh\fP\|(1).
For \fBmdelete\fP and \fBmget\fP, 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 radically
different from expansion of the name of an ordinary file:
the exact result depends on the remote operating system and
and can be previewed by doing `\fBmls\fP\ \fIremote-files\fP\ \fB\-\fP'.
\fBmget\fP and \fBmput\fP are not meant to transfer
entire directory subtrees of files. You can do this by
transferring a \fItar\fP\|(1) archive of the subtree (using a
\*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq of \*(lqimage\*(rq as set by the
Toggle hash-sign (``#'') printing for each data block
transferred. The size of a data block is 1024 bytes.
\fBhelp\fP [ \fIcommand\fP ]
Print an informative message about the meaning of
prints a list of the known commands.
\fBlcd\fP [ \fIdirectory\fP ]
Change the working directory on the local machine. If
is specified, the user's home directory is used.
\fBls\fP [ \fIremote-directory\fP ] [ \fIlocal-file\fP ]
Print an abbreviated listing of the contents of a
directory on the remote machine. If
is left unspecified, the current working directory
is used. If no local file is specified,
or if \fIlocal-file\fR is \fB\-\fR,
the output is sent to the terminal.
\fBmdelete\fP [ \fIremote-files\fP ]
Delete the \fIremote-files\fP on the remote machine.
\fBmdir\fP \fIremote-files\fP \fIlocal-file\fP
Like \fBdir\fP, except multiple remote files may be specified.
\fBmget\fP \fIremote-files\fP
Expand the \fIremote-files\fP on the remote machine
and do a \fBget\fP for each file name thus produced.
See \fBglob\fR for details on the filename expansion.
Files are transferred into the local working directory,
which can be changed with `\fBlcd\fP\ \fIdirectory\fP';
new local directories can be created with
`\fB!\fP\ \fBmkdir\fP\ \fIdirectory\fP'.
\fBmkdir\fP \fIdirectory-name\fP
Make a directory on the remote machine.
\fBmls\fP \fIremote-files\fP \fIlocal-file\fP
Like \fBls\fP, except multiple remote files may be specified.
\fBmode\fP [ \fImode-name\fP ]
Set the \*(lqtransfer mode\*(rq to
which corresponds to the default \*(lqstream\*(rq mode.
\fBmput\fP \fIlocal-files\fP
Expand wild cards in the list of local files given as arguments
and do a \fBput\fR for each file in the resulting list.
See \fBglob\fP for details of filename expansion.
\fBopen\fP \fIhost\fP [ \fIport\fP ]
Establish a connection to the specified
FTP server. An optional port number may be supplied,
will attempt to contact an FTP server at that port.
will also attempt to automatically log the user in to
the FTP server (see below).
Toggle interactive prompting. Interactive prompting
occurs during multiple file transfers to allow the
user to selectively retrieve or store files.
By default, prompting is turned on.
If prompting is turned off, any \fBmget\fP or \fBmput\fP
will transfer all files, and any \fBmdelete\fP will delete all files.
\fBput\fP \fIlocal-file\fP [ \fIremote-file\fP ]
Store a local file on the remote machine. If
is left unspecified, the local file name is used
in naming the remote file. File transfer uses the
current settings for \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq,
\*(lqfile structure\*(rq, and \*(lqtransfer mode\*(rq.
Print the name of the current working directory on the remote
\fBquote\fP \fIarg1\fP \fIarg2\fP ...
Send the arguments specified, verbatim, to the remote FTP
server. A single FTP reply code is expected in return.
\fBrecv\fP \fIremote-file\fP [ \fIlocal-file\fP ]
\fBremotehelp\fP [ \fIcommand-name\fP ]
Request help from the remote FTP server. If a
is specified it is supplied to the server as well.
\fBrename\fP \fIfrom\fP \fIto\fP
on the remote machine to have the name
.BI rmdir " directory-name"
Delete a directory on the remote machine.
\fBsend\fP \fIlocal-file\fP [ \fIremote-file\fP ]
Toggle the use of PORT commands. By default,
will attempt to use a PORT command when establishing
a connection for each data transfer. If the PORT
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 ignore PORT
commands but incorrectly indicate they've been accepted.
Show the current status of
\fBstruct\fP [ \fIstruct-name\fP ]
Set the \*(lqfile structure\*(rq to
which corresponds to the default \*(lqfile\*(rq structure.
Set the \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq to that needed to
Toggle packet tracing (unimplemented).
\fBtype\fP [ \fItype-name\fP ]
Set the \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq to
for \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq,
for \*(lqlocal byte size\*(rq with a byte size of 8 (used to talk to
If no type is specified, the current type
is printed. The default type is \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq.
\fBuser\fP \fIuser-name\fP [ \fIpassword\fP ] [ \fIaccount\fP ]
Identify yourself to the remote FTP server. If the
password is not specified and the server requires it,
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. Unless
is invoked with \*(lqauto-login\*(rq disabled, this
process is done automatically on initial connection to
Toggle verbose mode. In verbose mode, all responses from
the FTP server are displayed to the user. In addition,
if verbose mode is on, when a file transfer completes, statistics
regarding the efficiency of the transfer are reported. By default,
commands are coming from a terminal, and off otherwise.
\fB?\fP [ \fIcommand\fP ]
A synonym for \fBhelp\fP.
Command arguments which have embedded spaces may be quoted with
If any command argument which is not indicated as being optional is
will prompt for that argument.
.SH "FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS"
Local files specified as arguments to
commands are processed according to the following rules.
If the file name \*(lq-\*(rq is specified, the
standard input (for reading) or standard output
If the first character of the file name is \*(lq|\*(rq, the
remainder of the argument is interpreted as a shell command.
then forks a shell, using
with the argument supplied, and reads (writes) from the standard output
(standard input) of that shell. If the shell command includes spaces,
must be quoted; e.g. \*(lq"| ls -lt"\*(rq. A particularly
useful example of this mechanism is: \*(lqdir |more\*(rq.
Failing the above checks, if ``globbing'' is enabled,
local file names are expanded
according to the rules used in the
Note that remote file names are not processed, but are passed just as they
are typed, except for the \fBmdelete\fP, \fBmdir\fP, \fBmget\fP,
and \fBmls\fP commands, where they are expanded according to the rules of
the remote host's operating system, if any.
.SH "FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS"
The FTP specification specifies many parameters which may
The \*(lqrepresentation type\*(rq
may be one of \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq, \*(lqEBCDIC\*(rq, \*(lqimage\*(rq,
or \*(lqlocal byte size\*(rq with a specified byte size (for PDP-10's
and PDP-20's mostly). The \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq and \*(lqEBCDIC\*(rq
types have a further subtype which specifies whether vertical format control
(newlines, form feeds, etc.) are to be passed through (\*(lqnon-print\*(rq),
provided in TELNET format (\*(lqTELNET format controls\*(rq),
or provided in ASA (FORTRAN) (\*(lqcarriage control (ASA)\*(rq) format.
supports the \*(lqnetwork ASCII\*(rq (subtype \*(lqnon-print\*(rq only)
and \*(lqimage\*(rq types, plus \*(lqlocal byte size\*(rq
with a byte size of 8 for communicating with TENEX machines.
The \*(lqfile structure\*(rq may be one of \*(lqfile\*(rq
(no record structure), \*(lqrecord\*(rq, or \*(lqpage\*(rq.
supports only the default value, which is \*(lqfile\*(rq.
The \*(lqtransfer mode\*(rq may be one of \*(lqstream\*(rq,
\*(lqblock\*(rq, or \*(lqcompressed\*(rq.
supports only the default value, which is \*(lqstream\*(rq.
Options may be specified at the command line, or to the
show all responses from the remote server, as well
as report on data transfer statistics. This is turned on by
is running interactively with its input coming from the user's terminal.
do not attempt \*(lqauto-login\*(rq upon initial connection.
If auto-login is enabled,
file in the user's home directory for an entry describing
an account on the remote machine. If no entry exists,
uses the login name on the local machine as the user
identity on the remote machine, and prompts for a password
and, optionally, an account with which to login.
turn off interactive prompting during multiple file transfers.
disable filename "globbing."
enable packet tracing (unimplemented).
Many FTP server implementations do not support experimental
operations such as print working directory.
often causes the connection to be closed;
gives no indication that the transfer failed to complete.
projects / unix-history / blob