FTP(1C) FTP(1C) NAME ftp - ARPANET file transfer program SYNOPSIS ftp [ -v ] [ -d ] [ -i ] [ -n ] [ -g ] [ host ] DESCRIPTION _F_t_p is the user interface to the ARPANET standard File Transfer Proto‐ col. The program allows a user to transfer files to and from a remote network site. The client host with which _f_t_p is to communicate may be specified on the command line. If this is done, _f_t_p will immediately attempt to establish a connection to an FTP server on that host; otherwise, _f_t_p will enter its command interpreter and await instructions from the user. When _f_t_p is awaiting commands from the user the prompt “ftp>” is provided to the user. The following commands are recognized by _f_t_p: ! [ _c_o_m_m_a_n_d [ _a_r_g_s ] ] 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. $ _m_a_c_r_o_-_n_a_m_e [ _a_r_g_s ] Execute the macro _m_a_c_r_o_-_n_a_m_e that was defined with the macdef command. Arguments are passed to the macro unglobbed. account [ _p_a_s_s_w_d ] 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 _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e ] Append a local file to a file on the remote machine. If _r_e_m_o_t_e_- _f_i_l_e is left unspecified, the local file name is used in naming the remote file after being altered by any _n_t_r_a_n_s or _n_m_a_p set‐ ting. File transfer uses the current settings for _t_y_p_e, _f_o_r_m_a_t, _m_o_d_e, and _s_t_r_u_c_t_u_r_e. ascii Set the file transfer _t_y_p_e 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 _t_y_p_e to support binary image transfer. bye Terminate the FTP session with the remote server and exit _f_t_p. An end of file will also terminate the session and exit. 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 _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y Change the working directory on the remote machine to _r_e_m_o_t_e_- _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y. 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 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. delete _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e Delete the file _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e on the remote machine. debug [ _d_e_b_u_g_-_v_a_l_u_e ] Toggle debugging mode. If an optional _d_e_b_u_g_-_v_a_l_u_e is specified it is used to set the debugging level. When debugging is on, _f_t_p prints each command sent to the remote machine, preceded by the string “-->”. dir [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y ] [ _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e ] Print a listing of the directory contents in the directory, _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y, and, optionally, placing the output in _l_o_c_a_l_- _f_i_l_e. If no directory is specified, the current working direc‐ tory on the remote machine is used. If no local file is speci‐ fied, or _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e is -, output comes to the terminal. disconnect A synonym for close. form _f_o_r_m_a_t Set the file transfer _f_o_r_m to _f_o_r_m_a_t. The default format is “file”. get _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e [ _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e ] Retrieve the _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e 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 cur‐ rent _c_a_s_e, _n_t_r_a_n_s, and _n_m_a_p settings. The current settings for _t_y_p_e, _f_o_r_m, _m_o_d_e, and _s_t_r_u_c_t_u_r_e are used while transferring the file. glob Toggle filename expansion for mdelete, mget and mput. If glob‐ bing 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 _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s -’. 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 trans‐ ferred. The size of a data block is 1024 bytes. help [ _c_o_m_m_a_n_d ] Print an informative message about the meaning of _c_o_m_m_a_n_d. If no argument is given, _f_t_p prints a list of the known commands. lcd [ _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y ] Change the working directory on the local machine. If no _d_i_r_e_c_‐ _t_o_r_y is specified, the user’s home directory is used. ls [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y ] [ _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e ] Print an abbreviated listing of the contents of a directory on the remote machine. If _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y is left unspecified, the current working directory is used. If no local file is specified, or if _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e is -, the output is sent to the ter‐ minal. macdef _m_a_c_r_o_-_n_a_m_e Define a macro. Subsequent lines are stored as the macro _m_a_c_r_o_- _n_a_m_e; 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 com‐ mand line, on the second pass it is replaced by the second argu‐ ment, and so on. A ’\’ followed by any character is replaced by that character. Use the ’\’ to prevent special treatment of the ’$’. mdelete [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s ] Delete the _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s on the remote machine. mdir _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e Like dir, except multiple remote files may be specified. If interactive prompting is on, _f_t_p will prompt the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target local file for receiving mdir output. mget _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s Expand the _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s on the remote machine and do a get for each file name thus produced. See glob for details on the file‐ name expansion. Resulting file names will then be processed according to _c_a_s_e, _n_t_r_a_n_s, and _n_m_a_p settings. Files are trans‐ ferred into the local working directory, which can be changed with ‘lcd directory’; new local directories can be created with ‘! mkdir directory’. mkdir _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y_-_n_a_m_e Make a directory on the remote machine. mls _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e_s _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e Like ls, except multiple remote files may be specified. If interactive prompting is on, _f_t_p will prompt the user to verify that the last argument is indeed the target local file for receiving mls output. mode [ _m_o_d_e_-_n_a_m_e ] Set the file transfer _m_o_d_e to _m_o_d_e_-_n_a_m_e. The default mode is “stream” mode. mput _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e_s 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 _n_t_r_a_n_s and _n_m_a_p settings. nmap [ _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _o_u_t_p_a_t_t_e_r_n ] 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 pat‐ tern set by _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n and _o_u_t_p_a_t_t_e_r_n. _I_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n 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’, ..., ’$9’ in _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Use ’\’ to prevent this special treatment of the ’$’ character. All other characters are treated literally, and are used to determine the nmap _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n variable values. For exmaple, given _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n $1.$2 and the remote file name "mydata.data", $1 would have the value "mydata", and $2 would have the value "data". The _o_u_t_p_a_t_t_e_r_n determines the resulting mapped filename. The sequences ’$1’, ’$2’, ...., ’$9’ are replaced by any value resulting from the _i_n_p_a_t_t_e_r_n template. The sequence ’$0’ is replace by the original filename. Addi‐ tionally, the sequence ’[_s_e_q_1,_s_e_q_2_P_]_’ _i_s _r_e_p_l_a_c_e_d _b_y _s_e_q_1 if _s_e_q_1 is not a null string; otherwise it is replaced by _s_e_q_2. 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 _o_u_t_p_a_t_t_e_r_n, as in the example: nmap $1 |sed "s/ *$//" > $1 . Use the ’\’ character to prevent special treatment of the ’$’, ’[’, ’]’, and ’,’ char‐ acters. ntrans [ _i_n_c_h_a_r_s [ _o_u_t_c_h_a_r_s ] ] Set or unset the filename character translation mechanism. If no arguments are specified, the filename character translation mechanism is unset. If arguments are specified, characters in remote filenames are translated during mput commands and put commands issued without a specified remote target filename. If arguments are specified, characters in local filenames are translated during mget commands and get commands issued without a specified local target filename. This command is useful when connecting to a non-UNIX remote computer with different file naming conventions or practices. Characters in a filename matching a character in _i_n_c_h_a_r_s are replaced with the corre‐ sponding character in _o_u_t_c_h_a_r_s. If the character’s position in _i_n_c_h_a_r_s is longer than the length of _o_u_t_c_h_a_r_s, the character is deleted from the file name. open _h_o_s_t [ _p_o_r_t ] Establish a connection to the specified _h_o_s_t FTP server. An optional port number may be supplied, in which case, _f_t_p will attempt to contact an FTP server at that port. If the _a_u_t_o_- _l_o_g_i_n option is on (default), _f_t_p will also attempt to automati‐ cally log the user in to the FTP server (see below). prompt Toggle interactive prompting. Interactive prompting occurs dur‐ ing multiple file transfers to allow the user to selectively 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 _f_t_p_-_c_o_m_m_a_n_d 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 com‐ mands 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 _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e ] Store a local file on the remote machine. If _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e is left unspecified, the local file name is used after processing according to any _n_t_r_a_n_s or _n_m_a_p settings in naming the remote file. File transfer uses the current settings for _t_y_p_e, _f_o_r_m_a_t, _m_o_d_e, and _s_t_r_u_c_t_u_r_e. pwd Print the name of the current working directory on the remote machine. quit A synonym for bye. quote _a_r_g_1 _a_r_g_2 _._._. The arguments specified are sent, verbatim, to the remote FTP server. recv _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e [ _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e ] A synonym for get. remotehelp [ _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_-_n_a_m_e ] Request help from the remote FTP server. If a _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_-_n_a_m_e is specified it is supplied to the server as well. rename [ _f_r_o_m ] [ _t_o ] Rename the file _f_r_o_m on the remote machine, to the file _t_o. 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 _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y_-_n_a_m_e Delete a directory on the remote machine. runique Toggle storing of files on the local system with unique file‐ names. 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 con‐ tinues up to ".99", an error message is printed, and the trans‐ fer does not take place. The generated unique filename will be reported. Note that runique will not affect local files gener‐ ated from a shell command (see below). The default value is off. send _l_o_c_a_l_-_f_i_l_e [ _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_f_i_l_e ] A synonym for put. sendport Toggle the use of PORT commands. By default, _f_t_p 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, _f_t_p will use the default data port. When the use of PORT com‐ mands is disabled, no attempt will be made to use PORT commands for each data transfer. This is useful for certain FTP imple‐ mentations which do ignore PORT commands but, incorrectly, indi‐ cate they’ve been accepted. status Show the current status of _f_t_p. struct [ _s_t_r_u_c_t_-_n_a_m_e ] Set the file transfer _s_t_r_u_c_t_u_r_e to _s_t_r_u_c_t_-_n_a_m_e. By default “stream” structure is used. sunique Toggle storing of files on remote machine under unique file names. 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 [ _t_y_p_e_-_n_a_m_e ] Set the file transfer _t_y_p_e to _t_y_p_e_-_n_a_m_e. If no type is speci‐ fied, the current type is printed. The default type is network ASCII. user _u_s_e_r_-_n_a_m_e [ _p_a_s_s_w_o_r_d ] [ _a_c_c_o_u_n_t ] Identify yourself to the remote FTP server. If the password is not specified and the server requires it, _f_t_p 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 _f_t_p is invoked with “auto-login” dis‐ abled, 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 completes, statistics regarding the efficiency of the transfer are reported. By default, verbose is on. ? [ _c_o_m_m_a_n_d ] 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 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 _f_t_p has com‐ pleted 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 _f_t_p program must be killed by hand. FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS Files specified as arguments to _f_t_p 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. _F_t_p then forks a shell, using _p_o_p_e_n(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 par‐ ticularly 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 _c_s_h(1); c.f. the _g_l_o_b command. If the _f_t_p command expects a single local file ( .e.g. put), only the first filename generated by the "globbing" operation is used. 4) For mget commands and get commands with unspecified local file names, the local filename is the remote filename, which may be altered by a case, ntrans, or nmap setting. The resulting file‐ name may then be altered if runique is on. 5) For mput commands and put commands with unspecified remote file names, the remote filename is the local filename, which may be altered by a ntrans or nmap setting. The resulting filename may then be altered by the remote server if sunique is on. FILE TRANSFER PARAMETERS The FTP specification specifies many parameters which may affect a file transfer. The _t_y_p_e may be one of “ascii”, “image” (binary), “ebcdic”, and “local byte size” (for PDP-10’s and PDP-20’s mostly). _F_t_p supports the ascii and image types of file transfer, plus local byte size 8 for tenex mode transfers. _F_t_p supports only the default values for the remaining file transfer parameters: _m_o_d_e, _f_o_r_m, and _s_t_r_u_c_t. OPTIONS Options may be specified at the command line, or to the command inter‐ preter. The -v (verbose on) option forces _f_t_p to show all responses from the remote server, as well as report on data transfer statistics. The -n option restrains _f_t_p from attempting “auto-login” upon initial connection. If auto-login is enabled, _f_t_p will check the _._n_e_t_r_c (see below) file in the user’s home directory for an entry describing an account on the remote machine. If no entry exists, _f_t_p 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 option turns off interactive prompting during multiple file transfers. 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 _n_a_m_e 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 _f_t_p 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 _n_a_m_e 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 _s_t_r_i_n_g 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, _f_t_p will abort the auto-login process if the .netrc is readable by anyone besides the user. account _s_t_r_i_n_g 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 _n_a_m_e Define a macro. This token functions like the _f_t_p macdef com‐ mand functions. A macro is defined with the specified name; its contents begin with the next .netrc line and continue until a null line (consecutive new-line characters) is encountered. If a macro named _i_n_i_t is defined, it is automatically executed as the last step in the auto-login process. BUGS Correct execution of many commands depends upon proper behavior by the remote server. An error in the treatment of carriage returns in the 4.2BSD 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. 4.2 Berkeley Distribution April 29, 1985 FTP(1C)