FTP(TC) UNIX System V
Name
ftp - ARPANET file-transfer program
Syntax
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
immediately attempts 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 as 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 which is 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 ]
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 for a bell to sound after each file-transfer
command 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
uppercase are written in the local directory with the
letters mapped to lowercase.
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 system 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/linefeed sequence during ascii type file
transfer. When cr is on (the default), carriage
returns are stripped from this sequence to conform to
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, place 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.
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.
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 sh(C). 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 operating system
and ftp server, and can be previewed with the command:
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(C) archive of the subtree (in binary
mode).
hash Toggle hash-sign (#) printing for each data block
transferred. The size of a data block is BUFFERSIZE
bytes. BUFFERSIZE is defined to be 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.
idle [ seconds ]
Set the inactivity timer on the remote server to
seconds. If seconds is ommitted, the current
inactivity timer is printed.
image
Set the transfer type to binary image.
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
Define a macro. Subsequent lines are stored as the
macro macro-name; a null line (consisting of
consecutive newline characters in a file or carriage
returns from the terminal) terminates macro input mode.
There are limits 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 signal 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 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 the
command:
lcd directory
new local directories can be created with the command:
! 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.
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
Get the file only if the modification time of the
remote file is more recent than that of the file on the
local 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-direcotyr 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 the 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 those mput commands and put commands
issued without a specified remote target filename. If
arguments are specified, local filenames are mapped
during those mget commands and get commands issued
without a specified local target filename. The nmap
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 already have 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 unless seq1 is a null
string; in that case, 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.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 those mput commands and put
commands issued without a specified remote target
filename. If arguments are specified, characters in
local filenames are translated during those 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. For example, the command ntrans * . would
modify the filenames of files copied with ftp. This
command translates the character "*" to the character
"." in filenames. Thus, if you used the ftp command
get test*exe, the file test*exe would be copied as
test.exe.
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 log the user
automatically in to the FTP server. (See below.)
prompt
Toggle interactive prompting. Interactive prompting
occurs during multiple file transfers to allow the user
to retrieve or store files selectively. 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 file name is used
in naming the remote file after processing according to
any ntrans or nmap settings. 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.
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 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 directory-name
Delete a directory on the remote machine.
runique
Toggle storage 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. 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 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 that do ignore PORT
commands but, incorrectly, indicate that they have been
accepted.
site arg1 arg2 ...
The arguments spcified are sent, verbatim, to the
remote FTP server as a SITE command.
size file-name
Return the size of file-name on the remote machine.
status
Show the current status of ftp.
struct [ struct-name ]
Set the file transfer structure to struct-name. By
default, file structure is used.
sunique
Toggle storage of files on a remote machine under
unique file names. Remote ftp server must support ftp
protocol STOU command for successful completion. The
remote server will report a 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. When an account field is specified, an account
command will be relayed to the remote server after the
log-in 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.
umask [ newmask ]
Set the default umask on the remote system to newmask.
If newmask is ommitted, the current umask is printed.
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.
xmkdir directory-name
Make a directory on the remote machine. This sends an
XMKD command instead of MKD, and is useful for
backwards compatability with 4.2BSD UNIX machines.
xpwd Print the name of the current working directory on the
remote machine. This sends an XPWD command instead of
PWD, and is useful for backwards compatability with
4.2BSD UNIX machines.
xrmdir directory-name
Delete a directory on the remote machine. This sends
an XRMD command instead of RMD, and is useful for
backwards compatability with 4.2BSD UNIX machines.
? [ command ]
A synonym for help.
Command arguments which have embedded spaces may be quoted
with quotation (") marks.
Aborting a File Transfer
To abort a file transfer, use the terminal interrupt key
(usually Ctrl-C). The sending of transfers is immediately
halted. The receiving of transfers is 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 finished 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 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. Then ftp forks a shell, using popen(S) with
the argument supplied, and reads from the stdout (or
writes to the stdin). If the shell command includes
spaces, the argument must be quoted, for instance, "|
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 sh(C); see the glob command. If the ftp command
expects a single local file (such as 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 an 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 that 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). The ftp command supports the ascii and
image types of file transfer, plus local byte size 8 for
tenex mode transfers.
The ftp command supports only the default values for the
remaining file transfer parameters: mode , form , and
struct.
Options
Options may be specified at the command line, or to the
command interpreter.
The -v (verbose on) option forces ftp to show all responses
from the remote server, as well as report on data transfer
statistics. Ordinarily, this is on by default, unless the
standard input is not a terminal.
The -n option restrains ftp from attempting auto-login upon
initial connection. If auto-login is enabled, ftp will
check the file .netrc (discussed below) 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 log-in name (default being the user identity on the
local machine), and, if necessary, prompt for a password and
an account with which to log in.
The -i means there is no interactive prompt.
The -d option enables debugging.
The -g option disables file-name globbing.
The .netrc File
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 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
when 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 when the remote server requires an
additional account password, or the auto-login process
will initiate an ACCT command when it does not.
macdef name
Define a macro. This token functions like the ftp
macdef command. 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.
Notes
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
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. Avoid this
problem by using the binary image type.
(printed 8/31/90) FTP(TC)