SFTP(1) USER COMMANDS SFTP(1)
NAME
sftp - secure file transfer program
SYNOPSIS
sftp [-1246aCfpqrv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-c
cipher] [-D sftp_server_path] [-F ssh_config] [-i
identity_file] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-R
num_requests] [-S program] [-s subsystem | sftp_server] host
sftp [user@] host[:file ...]
sftp [user@] host[:dir[/]]
sftp -b batchfile [user@]host
DESCRIPTION
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-keygen(1)
for details).
Since some usage formats use colon characters to delimit
host names from path names, IPv6 addresses must be enclosed
in square brackets to avoid ambiguity.
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.
-a Attempt to continue interrupted transfers rather than
overwriting existing partial or complete copies of
files. If the partial contents differ from those being
transferred, then the resultant file is likely to be
corrupt.
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-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, reget,
reput, rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod,
chown, chgrp, lpwd, df, symlink, and lmkdir. Termina-
tion 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).
-f Requests that files be flushed to disk immediately
after transfer. When uploading files, this feature is
only enabled if the server implements the
"fsync@openssh.com" extension.
-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_config(5). This is useful for specifying
options for which there is no separate sftp command-
line flag. For example, to specify an alternate port
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use: sftp -oPort=24. For full details of the options
listed below, and their possible values, see
ssh_config(5).
AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
CanonicalDomains
CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
CanonicalizeHostname
CanonicalizeMaxDots
CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
CertificateFile
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
ControlPersist
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
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Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostbasedKeyTypes
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentitiesOnly
IdentityAgent
IdentityFile
IPQoS
KbdInteractiveAuthentication
KbdInteractiveDevices
KexAlgorithms
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
PKCS11Provider
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
ProxyJump
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
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RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UpdateHostKeys
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 connec-
tion. 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.
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-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 grp. path 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 mode. path may con-
tain glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
chown own path
Change owner of file path to own. path 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 [-afPpr] 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 the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume
partial transfers of existing files. Note that
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resumption assumes that any partial copy of the local
file matches the remote copy. If the remote file con-
tents differ from the partial local copy then the
resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
If the -f flag is specified, then fsync(2) will be
called after the file transfer has completed to flush
the file to disk.
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] oldpath newpath
Create a link from oldpath to newpath. If the -s flag
is specified the created link is a symbolic link, oth-
erwise 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
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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 [-afPpr] 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 the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume
partial transfers of existing files. Note that resump-
tion assumes that any partial copy of the remote file
matches the local copy. If the local file contents
differ from the remote local copy then the resultant
file is likely to be corrupt.
If the -f flag is specified, then a request will be
sent to the server to call fsync(2) after the file has
been transferred. Note that this is only supported by
servers that implement the "fsync@openssh.com" exten-
sion.
If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full
file permissions and access times are copied too.
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If the -r flag is specified then directories will be
copied recursively. Note that sftp does not follow
symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
pwd Display remote working directory.
quit Quit sftp.
reget [-Ppr] remote-path [local-path]
Resume download of remote-path. Equivalent to get with
the -a flag set.
reput [-Ppr] [local-path] remote-path
Resume upload of [local-path.] Equivalent to put with
the -a flag set.
rename oldpath newpath
Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
rm path
Delete remote file specified by path.
rmdir path
Remove remote directory specified by path.
symlink oldpath newpath
Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
version
Display the sftp protocol version.
! Ns command
Execute command in local shell.
! Escape to local shell.
? Synonym for help.
SEE ALSO
ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1),
glob(3), ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)
S. Lehtinen and T. Ylonen, SSH File Transfer Protocol,
draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in pro-
gress material.
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