ftp - ARPANET file transfer program
ftp [-v] [-d] [-i] [-n] [-g] [host]
Ftp is the user interface to the ARPANET standard File Transfer Protocol. 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 interpreter.
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 establish 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 provided 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.
cd remote-directory
Change the working directory on the remote machine to remote_directory.
chmod mode file-name
Change the permission modes of the file file-name on the remote
sytem to mode.
delete remote-file
Delete the file remote-file on the remote machine.
debug [debug-value]
Toggle debugging mode. If an optional debug-value is specified
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 target
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 alteration by
the current case, ntrans, and nmap settings. The current
settings for type, form, mode, and structure are used while
transferring the file.
help [command]
Print an informative message about the meaning of command. If
no argument is given, ftp prints a list of the known commands.
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 information
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
`$' and `\' as special characters. A `$' followed by a
number (or numbers) is replaced by the corresponding 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 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 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 directories
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 arguments
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 identical 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 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 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 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 (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 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
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 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 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 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 autologin
option is on (default), ftp will also attempt to automatically
log the user in to the FTP server (see below).
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 connection.
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 command 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 processing
according to any ntrans or nmap settings in naming the
remote file. File transfer uses the current settings for
type, format, mode, and structure.
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 command
is useful when transferring very large files over networks
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.
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 directory-name
Delete a directory on the remote machine.
send local-file [remote-file]
A synonym for put.
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.
struct [struct-name]
Set the file transfer structure to struct-name. By default
``stream'' structure is used.
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 specified,
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 automati
cally on initial connection to the FTP server.
? [command]
A synonym for help.
Command arguments which have embedded spaces may be quoted with quote `"' marks.
To abort a file transfer, use the terminal interrupt key (usually CtrlC). 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 completed 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.
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 particularly 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.
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.
The .netrc file contains login and initialization information used by the auto-login process. It resides in the user's home directory. The following tokens are recognized; they may be separated by spaces, tabs, or new-lines:
machine name
Identify a remote machine name. The auto-login process searches
the .netrc file for a machine token that matches the remote machine
specified on the ftp command line or as an open command
argument. Once a match is made, the subsequent .netrc tokens
are processed, stopping when the end of file is reached or another
machine or a default token is encountered.
default login anonymous password user@site
thereby giving the user automatic anonymous ftp login to machines not specified in .netrc. This can be overridden by using the -n flag to disable auto-login.
login name
Identify a user on the remote machine. If this token is present,
the auto-login process will initiate a login using the
specified name.
password string
Supply a password. If this token is present, the auto-login
process will supply the specified string if the remote server
requires a password as part of the login process. Note that if
this token is present in the .netrc file for any user other
than anonymous, ftp will abort the auto-login process if the
.netrc is readable by anyone besides the user.
account string
Supply an additional account password. If this token is present,
the auto-login process will supply the specified string
if the remote server requires an additional account password,
or the auto-login process will initiate an ACCT command if it
does not.
macdef name
Define a macro. This token functions like the ftp macdef command
functions. A macro is defined with the specified name;
its contents begin with the next .netrc line and continue until
a null line (consecutive new-line characters) is encountered.
If a macro named init is defined, it is automatically executed
as the last step in the auto-login process.
Ftp utilizes the following environment variables.
The ftp command appeared in 4.2BSD.
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 incorrect transfers of binary files to and from 4.2BSD servers using the ascii type. Avoid this problem by using the binary image type.