Posts Tagged ‘ftp’

Basic FTP Commands

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

The FTP (File Transfer Protocol) utility program is commonly used for copying files to and from other computers. These computers may be at the same site or at different sites thousands of miles apart. FTP is a general protocol that works on UNIX systems as well as a variety of other (non-UNIX) systems.

Find below a listing of basic FTP commands :

? to request help or information about the FTP commands
ascii to set the mode of file transfer to ASCII
(this is the default and transmits seven bits per character)
binary to set the mode of file transfer to binary
(the binary mode transmits all eight bits per byte and thus provides less chance of a transmission error and must be used to transmit files other than ASCII files)
bye to exit the FTP environment (same as quit)
cd to change directory on the remote machine
close to terminate a connection with another computer
close brubeck closes the current FTP connection with brubeck,
but still leaves you within the FTP environment.
delete to delete (remove) a file in the current remote directory (same as rm in UNIX)
get to copy one file from the remote machine to the local machine
get ABC DEF copies file ABC in the current remote directory to (or on top of) a file named DEF in your current local directory.
get ABC copies file ABC in the current remote directory to (or on top of) a file with the same name, ABC, in your current local directory.
help to request a list of all available FTP commands
lcd to change directory on your local machine (same as UNIX cd)
ls to list the names of the files in the current remote directory
mkdir to make a new directory within the current remote directory
mget to copy multiple files from the remote machine to the local machine;
you are prompted for a y/n answer before transferring each file
mget * copies all the files in the current remote directory to your current local directory, using the same filenames. Notice the use of the wild card character, *.
mput to copy multiple files from the local machine to the remote machine;
you are prompted for a y/n answer before transferring each file
open to open a connection with another computer
open brubeck opens a new FTP connection with brubeck;
you must enter a username and password for a brubeck account
(unless it is to be an anonymous connection).
put to copy one file from the local machine to the remote machine
pwd to find out the pathname of the current directory on the remote machine
quit to exit the FTP environment (same as bye)
rmdir to to remove (delete) a directory in the current remote directory