TUCoPS :: Unix :: General :: ftp.txt

Unix File Transfer Program (FTP) manual


FTP(1C)

NAME ftp - file transfer program

SyNOPSIS fftp [ -v ] [ -d ] [ -i ] [ -n ] [ -g ] [
   host ]

DESCRIPTION fftp is the user interface to the DARPA File Transfer
   Protocol. The pro- gram transfers files to and from a remote network
   site. For file transfers between 4.2 and 4.3 UNIX-based hosts on a
   local network, rcp is preferable.

   The client host with which fftp is to communicate can be specified on
   the command line. In this case, fftp immediately attempts to
   establish a con- nection to an FTP server on that host; otherwise,
   fftp enters its command interpreter and waits for instruction,
   displaying the prompt ``ftp>''.

   ftp recognizes the following commands:

   !         Invoke a shell on the local machine.

   $ macroname [ args ] Execute the macro macroname 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 com- pleted.  If no argument is included,
             the user will be prompted for an account password in a
             non-echoing input mode.

   append localfile [ remotefile ] Append a local file to a
             file on the remote machine. If remotefile is left
             unspecified, the local file name is used to name the remote
             file. File transfer uses the current set- tings for
             type, format, mode, and
             structure.

   ascii     Set the file transfer type to network ASCII.
             This is the default.

   bell      Sound a bell 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 fftp.

   case      Toggle remote computer file name case-mapping during
             mget com- mands.  When case is on (default is
             off), remote computer file names with all letters in
             upper-case are written in the local directory with the
             letters mapped to lower-case.

   cd remotedir Change the working directory on the remote machine
             to remotedir.

   cdup      Change the remote machine working directory to its
   parent.

FTP(1C)

   close     Terminate the FTP session with the remote server, and
             return to the command interpreter.

   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 with the UNIX single
             linefeed record delimiter. Records on non-UNIX remote
             systems can contain single linefeeds; when an ASCII type
             transfer is made, these linefeeds can be distinguished from
             a record delimiter only when cr is off.

   debug [ debugvalue ] Toggle debugging mode. If an optional
             debugvalue is speci- fied, it is used to set the debugging
             level. When debugging is on, fftp prints each command sent
             to the remote machine, pre- ceded by the string --> .

   delete remotefile Delete the file remotefile on the remote
             machine.

   dir [ remotedir ] [ localfile ] Print the contents of
             directory, remotedir, and, optionally, place the output in
             localfile.  If no directory is specified, the current
             working directory on the remote machine is used. If no
             local file is specified, 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 remotefile [ localfile ] Retrieve the remotefile 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 type, form,
             mode, and structure are used while
             transferring the file.

   glob      Toggle file name globbing. With file name globbing enabled,
             each local file or pathname is processed for csh
             metacharac- ters. These characters are * ? [] ~ {}.  Remote
             files speci- fied in multiple item commands, such as
             mput, are globbed by the remote server. With globbing
             disabled, all files and path- names are treated literally.

   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 csh.  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

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FTP(1C)

             exact result depends on the foreign operating system and
             FTP server, and can be previewed by doing ``mls
             remotefiles''. Note: mget and mput are not meant
             to transfer entire directory subtrees of files.  That can
             be done by transferring a tar archive of the subtree
             (in binary mode).

   hash      Toggle number-sign (#) printing for each data block
             transferred. The size of a data block is 1024 bytes.

   help command Print a description of command.  With no argument,
             fftp prints a list of the known commands.

   lcd [ dir ] Change the working directory dir on the local
             machine. If dir is not specified, change to the user's home
             directory.

   ls [ remotedir ] [ localfile ] Print an abbreviated listing of the
             contents of a directory on the remote machine. If remotedir
             is left unspecified, the current working directory is used.
             If no local-file is speci- fied, the output is sent to the
             terminal.

   macdef macroname Define a macro.  Subsequent lines are
             stored as the macro macroname; 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 remotefiles Delete the specified files on the
             remote machine. If globbing is enabled, the remote file
             specification is first expanded using ls.

   mdir remotefiles localfile Obtain a directory listing of
             multiple files on the remote machine and place the result
             in localfile.

   mget remotefiles Retrieve the specified files from the remote
             machine and place them in the current local directory. If
             globbing is enabled, the specification of remote files will
             first be expanded using ls.

   mkdir dirname

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FTP(1C)

             Make a directory named dirname on the remote machine.

   mls remotefiles localfile Obtain an abbreviated listing of multiple
             files on the remote machine and place the result in
             localfile.

   mode [ modename ] Set the file transfer mode to modename.
             The default mode is stream.

   mput localfiles Expand wildcards in the list of local files
             given as arguments and do a put for each file in the
             resulting list. This transfers multiple local files from
             the current local direc- tory to the current working
             directory on the remote machine. See csh for details of
             filename expansion.  Resulting file names will then be
             processed according to ntrans and nmap set-
             tings.

   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 com- mand is useful when connecting to a non-UNIX
             remote computer with different file naming conventions or
             practices.  The map- ping 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 set- tings).  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
             inpat- tern $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 can be
             included in outpattern, as in the example: nmap $1 |sed "s/
             *$//" > $1 .  Use the \\\ character to prevent spe- cial
             treatment of ``$'', ``['', ``]'', and ``,''.

   ntrans [ inchars [ outchars ] ]

FTP(1C)

             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 dif-
             ferent 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 posi- tion 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's FTP server. An optional port number can be
             supplied, in which case, fftp attempts to contact an FTP
             server at that port. If the auto- login option is
             on (default), fftp also attempts to automati- cally 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 to
             selec- tively retrieve or store files. If prompting is
             turned off (default), any mget or mput transfers
             all files.

   proxy ftpcommand 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 secon- dary
             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
             con- trol connection.  Third-party file transfers depend
             upon sup- port of the FTP protocol PASV command by the
             server on the secondary control connection.

   put localfile [ remotefile ] Store a local file on the remote
             machine. If remotefile is left unspecified, the local file
             name is used in naming the remote file. 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...


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FTP(1C)

   quote arg1 arg2 ... The arguments specified are sent, verbatim,
             to the remote FTP server. A single FTP reply code is
             expected in return.

   recv remotefile [ localfile ] A synonym for get.

   remotehelp [ commandname ] Request help from the remote
             FTP server. If a commandname is specified, it is supplied
             to the server as well.

   rename [ from ] [ to ] Rename, on the remote machine, the
             file from to the file to.

   reset     Clear reply queue.  This command resynchronizes
             command/reply sequencing with the remote FTP server.
             Resynchronization may be neccesary following a violation of
             the FTP protocol by the remote server.

   rmdir dirname Delete the directory dirname 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 localfile [ remotefile ] A synonym for put.

   sendport  Toggle the use of PORT commands. By default, fftp
             attempts to use a PORT command when establishing a
             connection for each data transfer. If the PORT command
             fails, fftp uses the default data port. When the use of
             PORT commands is disabled, no attempt is made to use them
             for each data transfer. This is useful for certain FTP
             implementations that do ignore PORT commands but wrongly
             indicate they have been accepted.

   status    Show the current status of fftp.

   struct [ structname ] Set the file transfer
             structure to structname.  The default structure
             is stream.

   sunique   Toggle storing of files on remote machine under
             unique file names.  Remote FTP server must support FTP
             protocol STOU com- mand for successful completion.  The
             remote server will report unique names.  Default value is
             off.

   tenex     Set the file transfer type to that needed to talk
   to TENEX

FTP(1C)

             machines.

   trace     Toggle packet-tracing.

   type [ typename ] Set the file transfer type to typename.  If
             no type is speci- fied, the current type is printed. The
             default type is network ASCII.

   user username [ password ] [ account ] Identify yourself to the
             remote FTP server. If the password is not specified and the
             server requires it, fftp prompts the user for it (after
             disabling local echo).  If an account field is not
             specified, and the FTP server requires it, the user is
             prompted for it. Unless fftp is invoked with ``auto-login''
             disabled, this process is done automatically on initial
             con- nection 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 mode is on, when a file transfer completes,
             statistics regard- ing the efficiency of the transfer are
             reported. By default, verbose is on.

   ??? [ command ] A synonym for help.

   Command arguments that have embedded spaces can be quoted with double
   quote (") marks.

ABORTING A FILE TRANSFER To abort a file transfer, use the terminal
   interrupt key (usually CTRL- C).  Sending transfers are immediately
   halted.  Receiving transfers are halted by sending an FTP protocol
   ABOR command to the remote server, and discarding any further data
   received.  The speed at which this is accom- plished 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 is ignored when fftp has
   completed any local processing and is awaiting a reply from the
   remote server.  A long delay in this mode can result from the ABOR
   processing described above, or from unexpected behavior by the remote
   server, including vio- lations 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 -, the standard input (for reading) or the
      stan- dard output (for writing) is used.

   2. If the first character of the file name is a bar(|), the remainder
      of the argument is interpreted as a shell command.  fftp then
      forks a

FTP(1C)

      shell, using popen with the argument supplied, and reads
      (writes) from the stdout (stdin).  If the shell command
      includes spaces, the argument must be quoted; for example, """|||
      ls -lt""". A particularly use- ful 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 csh; see the glob
      com- mand.

   4. For mget commands and get commands with unspecified local
      file names, the local filename is the remote filename, which can
      be altered by a case, ntrans, or nmap
      setting.  The resulting filename can 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 can be altered by a ntrans or nmap setting.
      The resulting filename can then be altered by the remote server if
      sunique is on.

FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS The FTP specification identifies many
   parameters that can affect a file transfer. The type can be one
   of ASCII , image (binary), ebcdic, and local
   byte size (for PDP-10's and PDP-20's mostly).  fftp
   supports the ASCII and image types of file
   transfer, plus local byte size 8 for tenex mode transfers.

   fftp supports only the default values for the remaining file transfer
   parameters: mode, form, and struct.

OPTIONS Options can be specified at the command line, or to the command
   inter- preter.

   -d   Enable debugging.

   -g   Disable file name globbing.

   -i   Turn off interactive prompting during mutiple file
   transfers.

   -n   Restrain fftp from attempting auto-login upon initial
        connection. If auto-login is enabled, fftp checks the
        ...netrc file in the user's home directory for an entry
        describing an account on the remote machine.  If no entry
        exists, fftp prompts for the remote machine login name (default
        is the user identity on the local machine), and, if necessary,
        prompts for a password and an account with which to log-in.

   -v   Force fftp to show all responses from the remote server and
        to report data transfer statistics.

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 identifiers are
   recognized; they can be separated by spaces, tabs, or newlines.

FTP(1C)

   machine name Identify a remote machine name.  The
      auto-login process searches the ...netrc file for a
      machine identifier 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 identifiers are
      pro- cessed, stopping when the end-of-file is reached or another
      machine identifier is encountered.

   login name Identify a user on the remote machine.  If this
      identifier is present, the auto-login process initiates a login
      using the specified name.

   password string Supply a password.  If this identifier is
      present, the auto-login process supplies the specified string if
      the remote server requires a password as part of the login
      process.  Note that if this identifier is present in the
      ...netrc file, fftp aborts the auto-login process if the
      ...netrc is readable by anyone besides the user.

FTP(1C)

   account string Supply an additional account password.  If
      this identifier is present, the auto-login process supplies the
      specified string if the remote server requires an additional
      account password, or the auto- login process initiates an ACCT
      command if it does not.

   macdef name Define a macro.  This identifier functions
      like the FTP macdef com- mand functions.  A macro is
      defined with the specified name; its con- tents 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.

SEE ALSO csh(1), rcp(1) ftpd(8c) in the UMAX 4.3 System Administrator's
   Reference Manual

RESTRICTIONS Many FTP server implementations do not support the
   experimental opera- tions such as print working directory.

   Aborting a file transfer does not work right; if one attempts this,
   the local FTP will probably have to be killed by hand.

   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 can
   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.

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