\define{versionidpsftp} \versionid $Id$
-\C{psftp} Using PSFTP to transfer files securely
+\C{psftp} Using \i{PSFTP} to transfer files securely
-\i{PSFTP}, the PuTTY SFTP client, is a tool for transferring files
+\i{PSFTP}, the PuTTY SFTP client, is a tool for \i{transferring files}
securely between computers using an SSH connection.
PSFTP differs from PSCP in the following ways:
\b PSCP should work on virtually every SSH server. PSFTP uses the
-new SFTP protocol, which is a feature of SSH 2 only. (PSCP will also
-use this protocol if it can, but there is an SSH 1 equivalent it can
+new \i{SFTP} protocol, which is a feature of SSH-2 only. (PSCP will also
+use this protocol if it can, but there is an SSH-1 equivalent it can
fall back to if it cannot.)
\b PSFTP allows you to run an interactive file transfer session,
-much like the Windows \c{ftp} program. You can list the contents of
+much like the Windows \i\c{ftp} program. You can list the contents of
directories, browse around the file system, issue multiple \c{get}
and \c{put} commands, and eventually log out. By contrast, PSCP is
designed to do a single file transfer operation and immediately
PSFTP also supports some of its own options. The following sections
describe PSFTP's specific command-line options.
-\S{psftp-option-b} \c{-b}: specify a file containing batch commands
+\S{psftp-option-b} \I{-b-PSFTP}\c{-b}: specify a file containing batch commands
In normal operation, PSFTP is an interactive program which displays
a command line and accepts commands from the keyboard.
If you need to do automated tasks with PSFTP, you would probably
-prefer to specify a set of commands in advance and have them
-executed automatically. The \c{-b} option allows you to do this. You
-use it with a file name containing batch commands. For example, you
-might create a file called \c{myscript.scr} containing lines like
-this:
+prefer to \I{batch scripts in PSFTP}specify a set of commands in
+advance and have them executed automatically. The \c{-b} option
+allows you to do this. You use it with a file name containing batch
+commands. For example, you might create a file called \c{myscript.scr}
+containing lines like this:
\c cd /home/ftp/users/jeff
\c del jam-old.tar.gz
\c ren jam.tar.gz jam-old.tar.gz
\c put jam.tar.gz
\c chmod a+r jam.tar.gz
-\c quit
and then you could run the script by typing
When you run a batch script in this way, PSFTP will abort the script
if any command fails to complete successfully. To change this
-behaviour, you can use the \c{-be} option (\k{psftp-option-be}).
+behaviour, you can add the \c{-be} option (\k{psftp-option-be}).
-\S{psftp-option-bc} \c{-bc}: display batch commands as they are run
+PSFTP will terminate after it finishes executing the batch script.
+
+\S{psftp-option-bc} \I{-bc-PSFTP}\c{-bc}: display batch commands as they are run
The \c{-bc} option alters what PSFTP displays while processing a
-batch script. With the \c{-bc} option, PSFTP will display prompts
-and commands just as if the commands had been typed at the keyboard.
-So instead of seeing this:
+batch script specified with \c{-b}. With the \c{-bc} option, PSFTP
+will display prompts and commands just as if the commands had been
+typed at the keyboard. So instead of seeing this:
+\c C:\>psftp fred@hostname -b batchfile
\c Sent username "fred"
\c Remote working directory is /home/fred
\c Listing directory /home/fred/lib
you might see this:
+\c C:\>psftp fred@hostname -bc -b batchfile
\c Sent username "fred"
\c Remote working directory is /home/fred
\c psftp> dir lib
\c drwxrwsr-x 2 fred fred 1024 Mar 13 2000 trn
\c psftp> quit
-\S{psftp-option-be} \c{-be}: continue batch processing on errors
+\S{psftp-option-be} \I{-be-PSFTP}\c{-be}: continue batch processing on errors
-When running a batch file, this option causes PSFTP to continue
-processing even if a command fails to complete successfully.
+When running a batch file, this additional option causes PSFTP to
+continue processing even if a command fails to complete successfully.
You might want this to happen if you wanted to delete a file and
didn't care if it was already not present, for example.
-\S{psftp-usage-options-batch}\c{-batch}: avoid interactive prompts
+\S{psftp-usage-options-batch} \I{-batch-PSFTP}\c{-batch}: avoid
+interactive prompts
If you use the \c{-batch} option, PSFTP will never give an
interactive prompt while establishing the connection. If the
prompt. You can now type commands to perform file-transfer
functions. This section lists all the available commands.
-\S{psftp-quoting} General quoting rules for PSFTP commands
+Any line starting with a \cw{#} will be treated as a \i{comment}
+and ignored.
+
+\S{psftp-quoting} \I{quoting, in PSFTP}General quoting rules for PSFTP commands
Most PSFTP commands are considered by the PSFTP command interpreter
as a sequence of words, separated by spaces. For example, the
\c{ren} (the command name), \c{oldfilename} (the name of the file to
be renamed), and \c{newfilename} (the new name to give the file).
-Sometimes you will need to specify file names that \e{contain}
-spaces. In order to do this, you can surround the file name with
-double quotes. This works equally well for local file names and
-remote file names:
+Sometimes you will need to specify \I{spaces in filenames}file names
+that \e{contain} spaces. In order to do this, you can surround
+the file name with double quotes. This works equally well for
+local file names and remote file names:
\c psftp> get "spacey file name.txt" "save it under this name.txt"
which passes its command line straight to Windows without splitting
it up into words at all. See \k{psftp-cmd-pling}.)
+\S{psftp-wildcards} Wildcards in PSFTP
+
+Several commands in PSFTP support \q{\i{wildcards}} to select multiple
+files.
+
+For \e{local} file specifications (such as the first argument to
+\c{put}), wildcard rules for the local operating system are used. For
+instance, PSFTP running on Windows might require the use of \c{*.*}
+where PSFTP on Unix would need \c{*}.
+
+For \e{remote} file specifications (such as the first argument to
+\c{get}), PSFTP uses a standard wildcard syntax (similar to \i{POSIX}
+wildcards):
+
+\b \c{*} matches any sequence of characters (including a zero-length
+sequence).
+
+\b \c{?} matches exactly one character.
+
+\b \c{[abc]} matches exactly one character which can be \cw{a},
+\cw{b}, or \cw{c}.
+
+\lcont{
+
+\c{[a-z]} matches any character in the range \cw{a} to \cw{z}.
+
+\c{[^abc]} matches a single character that is \e{not} \cw{a}, \cw{b},
+or \cw{c}.
+
+Special cases: \c{[-a]} matches a literal hyphen (\cw{-}) or \cw{a};
+\c{[^-a]} matches all other characters. \c{[a^]} matches a literal
+caret (\cw{^}) or \cw{a}.
+
+}
+
+\b \c{\\} (backslash) before any of the above characters (or itself)
+removes that character's special meaning.
+
+A leading period (\cw{.}) on a filename is not treated specially,
+unlike in some Unix contexts; \c{get *} will fetch all files, whether
+or not they start with a leading period.
+
\S{psftp-cmd-open} The \c{open} command: start a session
If you started PSFTP by double-clicking in the GUI, or just by
To create a connection, type \c{open host.name}, or if you need to
specify a user name as well you can type \c{open user@host.name}.
+You can optionally specify a port as well:
+\c{open user@host.name 22}.
Once you have issued this command, you will not be able to issue it
again, \e{even} if the command fails (for example, if you mistype
\S{psftp-cmd-quit} The \c{quit} command: end your session
When you have finished your session, type the command \c{quit} to
-terminate PSFTP and return to the command line (or just close the
-PSFTP console window if you started it from the GUI).
+close the connection, terminate PSFTP and return to the command line
+(or just close the PSFTP console window if you started it from the
+GUI).
You can also use the \c{bye} and \c{exit} commands, which have
exactly the same effect.
+\S{psftp-cmd-close} The \c{close} command: close your connection
+
+If you just want to close the network connection but keep PSFTP
+running, you can use the \c{close} command. You can then use the
+\c{open} command to open a new connection.
+
\S{psftp-cmd-help} The \c{help} command: get quick online help
If you type \c{help}, PSFTP will give a short list of the available
command.
\S{psftp-cmd-cd} The \c{cd} and \c{pwd} commands: changing the
-remote working directory
+remote \i{working directory}
PSFTP maintains a notion of your \q{working directory} on the
server. This is the default directory that other commands will
To display your current remote working directory, type \c{pwd}.
\S{psftp-cmd-lcd} The \c{lcd} and \c{lpwd} commands: changing the
-local working directory
+local \i{working directory}
As well as having a working directory on the remote server, PSFTP
also has a working directory on your local machine (just like any
\S{psftp-cmd-get} The \c{get} command: fetch a file from the server
-To download a file from the server and store it on your local PC,
+To \i{download a file} from the server and store it on your local PC,
you use the \c{get} command.
In its simplest form, you just use this with a file name:
This will fetch the file on the server called \c{myfile.dat}, but
will save it to your local machine under the name \c{newname.dat}.
-To fetch an entire directory recursively, you can use the \c{-r}
+To fetch an entire directory \i{recursive}ly, you can use the \c{-r}
option:
\c get -r mydir
\S{psftp-cmd-put} The \c{put} command: send a file to the server
-To upload a file to the server from your local PC, you use the
+To \i{upload a file} to the server from your local PC, you use the
\c{put} command.
In its simplest form, you just use this with a file name:
This will send the local file called \c{myfile.dat}, but will store
it on the server under the name \c{newname.dat}.
-To send an entire directory recursively, you can use the \c{-r}
+To send an entire directory \i{recursive}ly, you can use the \c{-r}
option:
\c put -r mydir
Every argument to \c{mget} is treated as the name of a file to fetch
(unlike \c{get}, which will interpret at most one argument like
that, and a second argument will be treated as an alternative name
-under which to store the retrieved file), or a wildcard expression
+under which to store the retrieved file), or a \i{wildcard} expression
matching more than one file.
+The \c{-r} and \c{--} options from \c{get} are also available with
+\c{mget}.
+
\c{mput} is similar to \c{put}, with the same differences.
\S{psftp-cmd-regetput} The \c{reget} and \c{reput} commands:
-resuming file transfers
+\i{resuming file transfers}
If a file transfer fails half way through, and you end up with half
the file stored on your disk, you can resume the file transfer using
\c reget myfile.dat
\c reget myfile.dat newname.dat
+\c reget -r mydir
+
+These commands are intended mainly for resuming interrupted transfers.
+They assume that the remote file or directory structure has not
+changed in any way; if there have been changes, you may end up with
+corrupted files. In particular, the \c{-r} option will not pick up
+changes to files or directories already transferred in full.
-\S{psftp-cmd-dir} The \c{dir} command: list remote files
+\S{psftp-cmd-dir} The \c{dir} command: \I{listing files}list remote files
To list the files in your remote working directory, just type
\c{dir}.
\c dir /home/fred
\c dir sources
+And you can list a subset of the contents of a directory by
+providing a wildcard:
+
+\c dir /home/fred/*.txt
+\c dir sources/*.c
+
The \c{ls} command works exactly the same way as \c{dir}.
\S{psftp-cmd-chmod} The \c{chmod} command: change permissions on
remote files
-PSFTP allows you to modify the file permissions on files on the
-server. You do this using the \c{chmod} command, which works very
-much like the Unix \c{chmod} command.
+\I{changing permissions on files}PSFTP
+allows you to modify the file permissions on files and
+directories on the server. You do this using the \c{chmod} command,
+which works very much like the Unix \c{chmod} command.
The basic syntax is \c{chmod modes file}, where \c{modes} represents
a modification to the file permissions, and \c{file} is the filename
-to modify. For example:
+to modify. You can specify multiple files or wildcards. For example:
\c chmod go-rwx,u+w privatefile
-\c chmod a+r publicfile
-\c chmod 640 groupfile
+\c chmod a+r public*
+\c chmod 640 groupfile1 groupfile2
The \c{modes} parameter can be a set of octal digits in the Unix
style. (If you don't know what this means, you probably don't want
\b A \c{+} or \c{-} sign, indicating whether permissions are to be
added or removed.
-\b The actual permissions being added or removed. These can be \c{r}
-(permission to read the file), \c{w} (permission to write to the
-file), and \c{x} (permission to execute the file, or in the case of
-a directory, permission to access files within the directory).
+\b The actual permissions being added or removed. These can be
+\I{read permission}\c{r} (permission to read the file),
+\I{write permission}\c{w} (permission to write to the file), and
+\I{execute permission}\c{x} (permission to execute the file, or in
+the case of a directory, permission to access files within the
+directory).
So the above examples would do:
the only permissions left are the ones for the file owner). \c{u+w}
adds write permission for the file owner.
-\b The second example: \c{a+r} adds read permission for everybody.
+\b The second example: \c{a+r} adds read permission for everybody to
+all files and directories starting with \q{public}.
In addition to all this, there are a few extra special cases for
-Unix systems. On non-Unix systems these are unlikely to be useful:
+\i{Unix} systems. On non-Unix systems these are unlikely to be useful:
\b You can specify \c{u+s} and \c{u-s} to add or remove the Unix
-set-user-ID bit. This is typically only useful for special purposes;
+\i{set-user-ID bit}. This is typically only useful for special purposes;
refer to your Unix documentation if you're not sure about it.
\b You can specify \c{g+s} and \c{g-s} to add or remove the Unix
-set-group-ID bit. On a file, this works similarly to the set-user-ID
+\i{set-group-ID bit}. On a file, this works similarly to the set-user-ID
bit (see your Unix documentation again); on a directory it ensures
that files created in the directory are accessible by members of the
group that owns the directory.
\b You can specify \c{+t} and \c{-t} to add or remove the Unix
-\q{sticky bit}. When applied to a directory, this means that the
+\q{\i{sticky bit}}. When applied to a directory, this means that the
owner of a file in that directory can delete the file (whereas
normally only the owner of the \e{directory} would be allowed to).
\S{psftp-cmd-del} The \c{del} command: delete remote files
-To delete a file on the server, type \c{del} and then the filename:
+To \I{deleting files}delete a file on the server, type \c{del} and
+then the filename or filenames:
\c del oldfile.dat
+\c del file1.txt file2.txt
+\c del *.o
+
+Files will be deleted without further prompting, even if multiple files
+are specified.
+
+\c{del} will only delete files. You cannot use it to delete
+directories; use \c{rmdir} for that.
The \c{rm} command works exactly the same way as \c{del}.
\S{psftp-cmd-mkdir} The \c{mkdir} command: create remote directories
-To create a directory on the server, type \c{mkdir} and then the
+To \i{create a directory} on the server, type \c{mkdir} and then the
directory name:
\c mkdir newstuff
+You can specify multiple directories to create at once:
+
+\c mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3
+
\S{psftp-cmd-rmdir} The \c{rmdir} command: remove remote directories
-To remove a directory on the server, type \c{rmdir} and then the
-directory name:
+To \i{remove a directory} on the server, type \c{rmdir} and then the
+directory name or names:
\c rmdir oldstuff
+\c rmdir *.old ancient
+
+Directories will be deleted without further prompting, even if
+multiple directories are specified.
Most SFTP servers will probably refuse to remove a directory if the
directory has anything in it, so you will need to delete the
contents first.
-\S{psftp-cmd-ren} The \c{ren} command: rename remote files
+\S{psftp-cmd-mv} The \c{mv} command: move and \i{rename remote files}
+
+To rename a single file on the server, type \c{mv}, then the current
+file name, and then the new file name:
+
+\c mv oldfile newname
+
+You can also move the file into a different directory and change the
+name:
+
+\c mv oldfile dir/newname
-To rename a file on the server, type \c{ren}, then the current file
-name, and then the new file name:
+To move one or more files into an existing subdirectory, specify the
+files (using wildcards if desired), and then the destination
+directory:
-\c ren oldfile newname
+\c mv file dir
+\c mv file1 dir1/file2 dir2
+\c mv *.c *.h ..
-The \c{rename} and \c{mv} commands work exactly the same way as
-\c{ren}.
+The \c{rename} and \c{ren} commands work exactly the same way as
+\c{mv}.
-\S{psftp-cmd-pling} The \c{!} command: run a local Windows command
+\S{psftp-cmd-pling} The \c{!} command: run a \i{local Windows command}
You can run local Windows commands using the \c{!} command. This is
the only PSFTP command that is not subject to the command quoting
using the Windows \c{ren} command to rename files on your local PC.
-\H{psftp-pubkey} Using public key authentication with PSFTP
+\H{psftp-pubkey} Using \i{public key authentication} with PSFTP
Like PuTTY, PSFTP can authenticate using a public key instead of a
password. There are three ways you can do this.
projects / u / mdw / putty / blobdiff