ftp(1N) ftp(1N)
NAME
ftp - ARPANET file transfer program
SYNOPSIS
ftp [-v] [-d] [-i] [-n] [-g] [host]
DESCRIPTION
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.
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
completed successfully. 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 filename
is used in naming the remote file, after being altered
by any ntrans or nmap setting. File transfer uses the
current settings for type, form (format), mode, and
struct (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
command is completed.
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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 filename case mapping during
mget commands. When case is on (default is off),
remote computer filenames 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.
close
Terminate the FTP session with the remote server, and
return to the command interpreter. Any defined macros
are erased.
cr Toggle RETURN stripping during ascii-type file
retrieval. Records are denoted by a RETURN/LINEFEED
sequence during ascii-type file transfer. When cr is
on (the default), 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
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 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.
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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 filename 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 struct (structure) are used while
transferring the file.
glob Toggle filename expansion for mdelete, mget, and mput.
If globbing is turned off with glob, the filename
arguments are taken literally and not expanded.
Globbing for mput is done as in csh(1). For mdelete
and mget, each remote filename 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 operating system
and ftp server, and can be previewed by issuing:
mls remote-files - 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
transferred. 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 commands.
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 an abbreviated listing of the contents of a
directory on the remote machine. If remote-directory
is left unspecified, the current working directory is
used. If no local file is specified, or if local-file
is -, the output is sent to the terminal.
macdef macro-name
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Define a macro. Subsequent lines are stored as the
macro macro-name; a null line (consecutive newline
characters in a file or 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 filename thus produced. See glob for
details on the filename expansion. Resulting filenames
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 ls, 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 mls output.
mode [ mode-name ]
Set the file transfer mode to mode-name. The default
mode is stream mode.
mput local-files
Expand wild cards in the list of local files given as
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arguments and do a put for each file in the resulting
list. See glob for details of filename expansion.
Resulting filenames will then be processed according to
ntrans and nmap settings.
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 filename
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 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
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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
filename.
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 automatically to 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
selectively to 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 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 filename is used,
after processing according to any ntrans or nmap
settings in naming the remote file. File transfer uses
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the current settings for type, form (format), mode, and
struct (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.
remotehelp [ command-name ]
Request help from the remote FTP server. If a
command-name is specified, it is supplied to the server
as well.
rename [ from ] [ to ]
Rename the file from on the remote machine, to the file
to.
reset
Clear reply queue. This command re-synchronizes
command/reply sequencing with the remote ftp server.
Resynchronization may be neccesary following a
violation of the ftp protocol by the remote server.
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 message 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
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connection for each data transfer. The use of PORT
commands can prevent 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.
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
filenames. Remote ftp server must support ftp protocol
STOU command for successful completion. The remote
server will report unique name. Default value is off.
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.
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
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
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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 CONTROL-c). Sending transfers will be halted
immediately. Receiving transfers will be halted by sending
an 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.
FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS
Files specified as arguments to ftp commands are processed
according to the following rules:
1) If the filename - is specified, the stdin (for reading)
or stdout (for writing) is used.
2) If the first character of the filename 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 filenames are expanded according to the rules
used in the csh(1); cf. the glob command. If the ftp
command expects a single local file ( e.g., put), only
the first filename generated by the ``globbing''
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operation is used.
4) For mget commands and get commands with unspecified
local filenames, 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 filenames, 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.
FLAG OPTIONS
Flag options may be specified at the command line, or to the
command interpreter.
The -v (verbose on) flag option forces ftp to show all
responses from the remote server, as well as report on data
transfer statistics.
The -n flag option restrains ftp from attempting auto-login
upon initial connection. If auto-login is enabled, ftp will
check the .netrc (see below) file in the user's home
directory for an entry describing 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.
The -i flag option turns off interactive prompting during
multiple file transfers.
The -d flag option enables debugging.
The -g flag option disables filename globbing.
THE .netrc FILE
The .netrc file contains login and initialization
information used by the auto-login process. It resides in
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the user's home directory. The following tokens are
recognized; they may be separated by spaces, tabs, or
newlines:
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 token is encountered.
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, 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
newline characters) is encountered. If a macro named
init is defined, it is automatically executed as the
last step in the auto-login process.
FILES
/usr/spool/ftp
SEE ALSO
tip(1c), cu(1c),
``Using B-NET'' in Oreo Local System Administration.
BUGS
Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper
behavior by the remote server.
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An error in the treatment of RETURNs in the 4.2BSD UNIX
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. You may
avoid this problem by using the image (binary) type.
When the verbose mode (-v flag option) is turned off, ftp
does not echo responses from the remote server. This
includes the response to the request pwd. Beware of this.
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