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 third usage format allows
sftp
to start in a remote directory.
The final usage format allows for automated sessions using the
-b
option.
In such cases, it is necessary to configure non-interactive authentication
to obviate the need to enter a password at connection time (see
sshd(8)
and
ssh-keygen1
for details).
The options are as follows:
-1
Specify the use of protocol version 1.
-2
Specify the use of protocol version 2.
-4
Forces
sftp
to use IPv4 addresses only.
-6
Forces
sftp
to use IPv6 addresses only.
-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.
-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.
A
batchfile
of
`-'
may be used to indicate standard input.
sftp
will abort if any of the following
commands fail:
get , put , rename , lnrm , mkdir , chdir , lslchdir , chmod , chownchgrp , lpwd , df , symlink
and
lmkdir
Termination on error can be suppressed on a command by command basis by
prefixing the command with a
`-'
character (for example,
-rm /tmp/blah* )
-C
Enables compression (via ssh's
-C
flag).
-c cipher
Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
This option is directly passed to
ssh(1).
-D sftp_server_path
Connect directly to a local sftp server
(rather than via
ssh(1)).
This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
-F ssh_config
Specifies an alternative
per-user configuration file for
ssh(1).
This option is directly passed to
ssh(1).
-i identity_file
Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public key
authentication is read.
This option is directly passed to
ssh(1).
-l limit
Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
-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
For full details of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
ssh_config5.
AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentityFile
IdentitiesOnly
IPQoS
KbdInteractiveDevices
KexAlgorithms
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
PKCS11Provider
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UsePrivilegedPort
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS
-P port
Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
-p
Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
original files transferred.
-q
Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
diagnostic messages from
ssh(1).
-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 64 outstanding requests.
-r
Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and downloading.
Note that
sftp
does not follow symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.
-S program
Name of the
program
to use for the encrypted connection.
The program must understand
ssh(1)
options.
-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(8)
does not have an sftp subsystem configured.
-v
Raise logging level.
This option is also passed to ssh.
INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
Once in interactive mode,
sftp
understands a set of commands similar to those of
ftp(1).
Commands are case insensitive.
Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes.
Any special characters contained within pathnames that are recognized by
glob(3)
must be escaped with backslashes
(`\'
)
bye
Quit
sftp
cd path
Change remote directory to
path
chgrp grp path
Change group of file
path
to
grppath
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
grp
must be a numeric GID.
chmod mode path
Change permissions of file
path
to
modepath
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
chown own path
Change owner of file
path
to
ownpath
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
own
must be a numeric UID.
df
[-hi
]
[path
]
Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current directory
(or
path
if specified).
If the
-h
flag is specified, the capacity information will be displayed using
"human-readable" suffixes.
The
-i
flag requests display of inode information in addition to capacity information.
This command is only supported on servers that implement the
``statvfs@openssh.com''
extension.
exit
Quit
sftp
get
[-Ppr
]
remote-path
[local-path
]
Retrieve the
remote-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.
remote-path
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
If it does and
local-path
is specified, then
local-path
must specify a directory.
If either the
-P
or
-p
flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
copied too.
If the
-r
flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
Note that
sftp
does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
help
Display help text.
lcd path
Change local directory to
path
lls [ls-options [path
]
]
Display local directory listing of either
path
or current directory if
path
is not specified.
ls-options
may contain any flags supported by the local system's
ls(1)
command.
path
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
lmkdir path
Create local directory specified by
path
ln
[-s
]
oldpathnewpath
Create a link from
oldpath
to
newpath
If the
-s
flag is specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise it is
a hard link.
lpwd
Print local working directory.
ls
[-1afhlnrSt [path
]
]
Display a remote directory listing of either
path
or the current directory if
path
is not specified.
path
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of
ls
accordingly:
-1
Produce single columnar output.
-a
List files beginning with a dot
(`.'
)
-f
Do not sort the listing.
The default sort order is lexicographical.
-h
When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte,
Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte, and Exabyte in order to reduce
the number of digits to four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
M=1048576, etc.).
-l
Display additional details including permissions
and ownership information.
-n
Produce a long listing with user and group information presented
numerically.
-r
Reverse the sort order of the listing.
-S
Sort the listing by file size.
-t
Sort the listing by last modification time.
lumask umask
Set local umask to
umask
mkdir path
Create remote directory specified by
path
progress
Toggle display of progress meter.
put
[-Ppr
]
local-path
[remote-path
]
Upload
local-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.
local-path
may contain
glob(3)
characters and may match multiple files.
If it does and
remote-path
is specified, then
remote-path
must specify a directory.
If ether the
-P
or
-p
flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
copied too.
If the
-r
flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
Note that
sftp
does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.