sftp
is an interactive file transfer program, similar to
ftp(1),
which performs all operations over an encrypted
ssh(1)
transport.
It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and
compression.
sftp
connects and logs into the specified
host
then enters an interactive command mode.
The second usage format will retrieve files automatically if a non-interactive
authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after
successful interactive authentication.
The last usage format allows the sftp client to start in a remote directory.
The options are as follows:
-b batchfile
Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input
batchfile
instead of
stdin
Since it lacks user interaction it should be used in conjunction with
non-interactive authentication.
sftp
will abort if any of the following
commands fail:
get , put , rename , lnrm , mkdir , chdir , lchdir
and
lmkdir
-o ssh_option
Can be used to pass options to
ssh
in the format used in
ssh_config5.
This is useful for specifying options
for which there is no separate
sftp
command-line flag. For example, to specify an alternate
port use:
sftp -oPort=24
-s subsystem | sftp_server
Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server
on the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over
protocol version 1, or when the remote
sshd
does not have an sftp subsystem configured.
-v
Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
-B buffer_size
Specify the size of the buffer that
sftp
uses when transferring files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at
the cost of higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes.
-C
Enables compression (via ssh's
-C
flag).
-F ssh_config
Specifies an alternative
per-user configuration file for
ssh
This option is directly passed to
ssh(1).
-P sftp_server path
Connect directly to a local
sftp-server
(rather than via
ssh
This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
-R num_requests
Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time. Increasing
this may slightly improve file transfer speed but will increase memory
usage. The default is 16 outstanding requests.
-S program
Name of the
program
to use for the encrypted connection.
The program must understand
ssh(1)
options.
-1
Specify the use of protocol version 1.
INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
Once in interactive mode,
sftp
understands a set of commands similar to those of
ftp(1).
Commands are case insensitive and pathnames may be enclosed in quotes if they
contain spaces.
bye
Quit sftp.
cd path
Change remote directory to
path
lcd path
Change local directory to
path
chgrp grp path
Change group of file
path
to
grpgrp
must be a numeric GID.
chmod mode path
Change permissions of file
path
to
mode
chown own path
Change owner of file
path
to
ownown
must be a numeric UID.
exit
Quit sftp.
[flags
]
remote-path
[local-path
]
Retrieve theremote-path
and store it on the local machine.
If the local
path name is not specified, it is given the same name it has on the
remote machine. If the
-P
flag is specified, then the file's full permission and access time are
copied too.
help
Display help text.
lls [ls-options [path
]
]
Display local directory listing of either
path
or current directory if
path
is not specified.
lmkdir path
Create local directory specified by
path
ln oldpath newpath
Create a symbolic link from
oldpath
to
newpath
lpwd
Print local working directory.
ls [path
]
Display remote directory listing of either
path
or current directory if
path
is not specified.
lumask umask
Set local umask to
umask
mkdir path
Create remote directory specified by
path
[flags
]
local-path
[local-path
]
Uploadlocal-path
and store it on the remote machine. If the remote path name is not
specified, it is given the same name it has on the local machine. If the
-P
flag is specified, then the file's full permission and access time are
copied too.