View Source: netkit-ftp(1) - Waikato Linux Users Group

You are viewing an old revision of this page. View the current version.
----
__NAME__


ftp - Internet file transfer
program
__SYNOPSIS__


ftp [[-pinegvd] [[host]


pftp [[-inegvd] [[host]
__DESCRIPTION__


Ftp is the user interface to the Internet
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 com- mand interpreter.
       -p


Use passive mode for data transfers. Allows use of  ftpin  environments  where a firewall prevents connectionsfrom the outside world  back  to  the  client  machine.Requires  that the ftp server support the PASV command.This is the default if invoked as pftp.-iTurns off interactive prompting  during  multiple  filetransfers.-nRestrains  ftp from attempting ``auto-login'' upon ini-tial connection.  If auto-login is  enabled,  ftp  willcheck the .netrc (see netrc(5)) 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.


-e
Disables command editing and history support, if it was
compiled into the ftp executable. Otherwise, does noth-
ing.


-g
Disables file name globbing.


-v
Verbose option forces ftp to show all responses from the
remote server, as well as report on data transfer
statistics.


-d
Enables debugging.


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 pro- vided 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 set- ting. 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 that a bell be sounded 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 let- ters 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.


chmod mode file-name
Change the permission modes of the file file-name on the
remote sytem 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 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 distin- guished
from a record delimiter only when cr is off.


qc
Toggle the printing of control characters in the output of
ASCII type commands. When this is turned on,
control characters are replaced with a question mark if the
output file is the standard output. This is the default when
the standard output is a tty.


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 ver- ify 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 -, out- put 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 csh(1). 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 by doing 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(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.


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 sys- tems 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 termi- nal.


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 num- bers) is replaced by the corresponding
argument on the macro invocation command line. A `$' fol-
lowed by an `i' signals that macro processor that the
executing macro is to be looped. On the first pass `$i' is
replaced by the first argument on the macro invocation
command line, on the sec- ond pass it is replaced by the
second argument, and so on. A `' followed by any character
is replaced by that character. Use the `' to pre- vent
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 speci- fied, local
filenames are mapped during mget com- mands 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 prac- tices. The mapping follows the
pattern set by inpattern and outpattern. [[Inpattern] is a
tem- plate 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


      nmap $1.$2.$3 [[$1,$2].[[$2,file]
would yield the output filename
       ntrans [[inchars [[outchars]]


      Set  or  unset the filename character translationmechanism.  If no arguments  are  specified,  thefilename   character   translation  mechanism  isunset.  If arguments are specified, characters inremote  filenames are translated during mput com-mands and put commands issued without a specifiedremote  target filename.  If arguments are speci-fied, characters in local  filenames  are  trans-lated  during  mget  commands  and  get  commandsissued without a specified local target filename.This  command  is  useful  when  connecting  to anon-UNIX remote computer with different file nam-ing  conventions  or  practices.  Characters in afilename matching  a  character  in  inchars  arereplaced  with  the  corresponding  character  inoutchars.  If the character's position in incharsis  longer than the length of outchars, the char-acter is deleted from the file name.open host [[port]      Establish a connection to the specified host  FTPserver.  An optional port number may be supplied,in which case, ftp will attempt to contact an FTPserver at that port.  If the auto-login option ison (default), ftp will also attempt to  automati-cally  log  the  user  in  to the FTP server (seebelow).prompt      Toggle   interactive   prompting.     Interactiveprompting  occurs  during multiple file transfersto allow the  user  to  selectively  retrieve  orstore files.  If prompting is turned off (defaultis 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 controlconnection.   This  command  allows  simultaneousconnection  to  two remote ftp servers for trans-ferring files between the two servers.  The firstproxy command should be an open, to establish thesecondary control connection.  Enter the  command 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.


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.


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 trans- ferred copy of remote-file and the transfer
is continued from the apparent point of failure. If
local-file does not exist ftp won't fetch the file. 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.


reset
Clear reply queue. This command re-synchronizes
command/reply sequencing with the remote ftp server.
Resynchronization may be necessary fol- lowing 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 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


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 estab-
lishing a connection for each data transfer. The use of
PORT commands can prevent delays when per- forming
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.


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.


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 file
names. Remote ftp server must sup- port ftp protocol
STOU command for successful completion. The remote
server will report unique name. Default value is
off.


system
Show the type of operating system running on the remote
machine.


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 .


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 com- mand 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 connec- tion 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 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 `


__ABORTING A FILE TRANSFER__


To abort a file transfer, use the terminal interrupt key
(usually Ctrl-C). 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 viola- tions of the
ftp protocol. If the delay results from unex- pected 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 |, theremainder of the argument is interpreted as a shell com-mand.   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. ``


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


4.For mget commands and get commands with unspecified local
file names, the local filename is the remote file- name,
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 set- ting. 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.
__ENVIRONMENT__


Ftp utilizes the following environment
variables.
         HOME
For default location of a .netrc file, if one
exists.


SHELL
For default shell.


__SEE ALSO__


ftpd(8), RFC 959
__HISTORY__


The ftp command appeared in 4.2 BSD
.
__BUGS__


Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper
behavior by the remote server.


An error in the treatment of carriage returns in the 4.2 BSD ascii-mode transfer code has been corrected. This correc- tion may result in incorrect transfers of binary files to and from 4.2 BSD servers using the ascii type. Avoid this problem by using the binary image type.


Linux NetKit (0.17) August 15, 1999 1
----
One page links to netkit-ftp(1):
Man1n
This page is a man page (or other imported legacy content). We are unable to automatically determine the license status of this page.
Version 1, saved on Monday, June 3, 2002 11:55:35 pm by "perry"
Edit PageHistory Diff Info LikePages