FTP(1C)                                                                FTP(1C)


NAME
       ftp - ARPANET file transfer program

SYNOPSIS
       ftp [ -v ] [ -d ] [ -i ] [ -n ] [ -g ] [ host ]

DESCRIPTION
       Ftp  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 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
       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  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  com‐
              pleted.   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 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 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.

       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 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 no directory is specified, the current working direc‐
              tory on the remote machine is used.  If no local file is  speci‐
              fied, 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  cur‐
              rent  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 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 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  trans‐
              ferred.  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.

       lcd [ directory ]
              Change the working directory on the local machine.  If no direc
              tory 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 ter‐
              minal.

       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 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 [ 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 file‐
              name expansion.  Resulting file names  will  then  be  processed
              according  to case, ntrans, and nmap 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 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.

       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.

       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 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 inpattern and outpattern.  Inpattern 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’, ..., ’$9’
              in inpattern.  Use ’\’ to prevent this special treatment of  the
              ’$’  character.  All other characters are treated literally, and
              are used to determine the nmap inpattern variable  values.   For
              exmaple,   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 replace by the  original  filename.   Addi‐
              tionally,  the  sequence  ’[seq1,seq2P]  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  may  be  included  in outpattern, as in the
              example: nmap $1 |sed "s/  *$//" > $1 .  Use the  ’\’  character
              to prevent special treatment of the ’$’, ’[’, ’]’, and ’,’ char‐
              acters.

       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 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 inchars are  replaced  with  the  corre‐
              sponding  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.

       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 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 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 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 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.

       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
              neccesary  following  a  violation  of  the  ftp protocol by the
              remote server.

       rmdir directory-name
              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 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 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 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 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 [ type-name ]
              Set the file transfer type to type-name.  If no type  is  speci‐
              fied,  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.   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 ftp 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.

       ? [ command ]
              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 ftp 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 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.  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. “"| 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 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 "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 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.

OPTIONS
       Options  may be specified at the command line, or to the command inter‐
       preter.

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

       The  -n  option restrains ftp from attempting “auto-login” upon initial
       connection.  If auto-login is enabled, ftp will check the  .netrc  (see
       below)  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.

       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 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 if 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
              if the remote server requires an additional account password, or
              the auto-login process will initiate an ACCT command if it  does
              not.

       macdef name
              Define  a  macro.  This token functions like the ftp 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 init 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)
 
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