1SFTP(1) BSD General Commands Manual SFTP(1)
2
4 sftp — secure file transfer program
5
7 sftp [-1Cv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-F ssh_config]
8 [-o ssh_option] [-P sftp_server_path] [-R num_requests] [-S program]
9 [-s subsystem | sftp_server] host
10 sftp [user@]host[:file ...]
11 sftp [user@]host[:dir[/]]
12 sftp -b batchfile [user@]host
13
15 sftp is an interactive file transfer program, similar to ftp(1), which
16 performs all operations over an encrypted ssh(1) transport. It may also
17 use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and compres‐
18 sion. sftp connects and logs into the specified host, then enters an
19 interactive command mode.
20 The second usage format will retrieve files automatically if a non-inter‐
22 active authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after suc‐
23 cessful interactive authentication.
24 The third usage format allows sftp to start in a remote directory.
26 The final usage format allows for automated sessions using the -b option.
28 In such cases, it is necessary to configure non-interactive authentica‐
29 tion to obviate the need to enter a password at connection time (see
30 sshd(8) and ssh-keygen(1) for details). The options are as follows:
31 -1 Specify the use of protocol version 1.
33 -B buffer_size
35 Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when transferring
36 files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of
37 higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes.
38 -b batchfile
40 Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input batchfile
41 instead of stdin. Since it lacks user interaction it should be
42 used in conjunction with non-interactive authentication. A
43 batchfile of ‘-’ may be used to indicate standard input. sftp
44 will abort if any of the following commands fail: get, put,
45 rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod, chown, chgrp,
46 lpwd, df, and lmkdir. Termination on error can be suppressed on
47 a command by command basis by prefixing the command with a ‘-’
48 character (for example, -rm /tmp/blah*).
49 -C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag).
51 -F ssh_config
53 Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh(1).
54 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
55 -o ssh_option
57 Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
58 ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for which
59 there is no separate sftp command-line flag. For example, to
60 specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. For full details
61 of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
62 ssh_config(5).
63 AddressFamily
65 BatchMode
66 BindAddress
67 ChallengeResponseAuthentication
68 CheckHostIP
69 Cipher
70 Ciphers
71 Compression
72 CompressionLevel
73 ConnectionAttempts
74 ConnectTimeout
75 ControlMaster
76 ControlPath
77 GlobalKnownHostsFile
78 GSSAPIAuthentication
79 GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
80 HashKnownHosts
81 Host
82 HostbasedAuthentication
83 HostKeyAlgorithms
84 HostKeyAlias
85 HostName
86 IdentityFile
87 IdentitiesOnly
88 KbdInteractiveDevices
89 LogLevel
90 MACs
91 NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
92 NumberOfPasswordPrompts
93 PasswordAuthentication
94 PKCS11Provider
95 Port
96 PreferredAuthentications
97 Protocol
98 ProxyCommand
99 PubkeyAuthentication
100 RekeyLimit
101 RhostsRSAAuthentication
102 RSAAuthentication
103 SendEnv
104 ServerAliveInterval
105 ServerAliveCountMax
106 StrictHostKeyChecking
107 TCPKeepAlive
108 UsePrivilegedPort
109 User
110 UserKnownHostsFile
111 VerifyHostKeyDNS
112 -P sftp_server_path
114 Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via ssh(1)).
115 This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
116 -R num_requests
118 Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
119 Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed but will
120 increase memory usage. The default is 64 outstanding requests.
121 -S program
123 Name of the program to use for the encrypted connection. The
124 program must understand ssh(1) options.
125 -s subsystem | sftp_server
127 Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on
128 the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over protocol
129 version 1, or when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp sub‐
130 system configured.
131 -v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
133
135 Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to
136 those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive. Pathnames that contain
137 spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Any special characters contained
138 within pathnames that are recognized by glob(3) must be escaped with
139 backslashes (‘\’).
140 bye Quit sftp.
142 cd path
144 Change remote directory to path.
145 chgrp grp path
147 Change group of file path to grp. path may contain glob(3) char‐
148 acters and may match multiple files. grp must be a numeric GID.
149 chmod mode path
151 Change permissions of file path to mode. path may contain
152 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
153 chown own path
155 Change owner of file path to own. path may contain glob(3) char‐
156 acters and may match multiple files. own must be a numeric UID.
157 df [-hi] [path]
159 Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current
160 directory (or path if specified). If the -h flag is specified,
161 the capacity information will be displayed using "human-readable"
162 suffixes. The -i flag requests display of inode information in
163 addition to capacity information. This command is only supported
164 on servers that implement the “statvfs@openssh.com” extension.
165 exit Quit sftp.
167 get [-P] remote-path [local-path]
169 Retrieve the remote-path and store it on the local machine. If
170 the local path name is not specified, it is given the same name
171 it has on the remote machine. remote-path may contain glob(3)
172 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
173 local-path is specified, then local-path must specify a direc‐
174 tory. If the -P flag is specified, then full file permissions
175 and access times are copied too.
176 help Display help text.
178 lcd path
180 Change local directory to path.
181 lls [ls-options [path]]
183 Display local directory listing of either path or current direc‐
184 tory if path is not specified. ls-options may contain any flags
185 supported by the local system's ls(1) command. path may contain
186 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
187 lmkdir path
189 Create local directory specified by path.
190 ln oldpath newpath
192 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
193 lpwd Print local working directory.
195 ls [-1aflnrSt] [path]
197 Display a remote directory listing of either path or the current
198 directory if path is not specified. path may contain glob(3)
199 characters and may match multiple files.
200 The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of ls
202 accordingly:
203 -1 Produce single columnar output.
205 -a List files beginning with a dot (‘.’).
207 -f Do not sort the listing. The default sort order is lexi‐
209 cographical.
210 -l Display additional details including permissions and own‐
212 ership information.
213 -n Produce a long listing with user and group information
215 presented numerically.
216 -r Reverse the sort order of the listing.
218 -S Sort the listing by file size.
220 -t Sort the listing by last modification time.
222 lumask umask
224 Set local umask to umask.
225 mkdir path
227 Create remote directory specified by path.
228 progress
230 Toggle display of progress meter.
231 put [-P] local-path [remote-path]
233 Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine. If the
234 remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it
235 has on the local machine. local-path may contain glob(3) charac‐
236 ters and may match multiple files. If it does and remote-path is
237 specified, then remote-path must specify a directory. If the -P
238 flag is specified, then the file's full permission and access
239 time are copied too.
240 pwd Display remote working directory.
242 quit Quit sftp.
244 rename oldpath newpath
246 Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
247 rm path
249 Delete remote file specified by path.
250 rmdir path
252 Remove remote directory specified by path.
253 symlink oldpath newpath
255 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
256 version
258 Display the sftp protocol version.
259 !command
261 Execute command in local shell.
262 ! Escape to local shell.
264 ? Synonym for help.
266
268 IPv6 address can be used everywhere where IPv4 address. In all entries
269 must be the IPv6 address enclosed in square brackets. Note: The square
270 brackets are metacharacters for the shell and must be escaped in shell.
271
273 ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), glob(3),
274 ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)
275 T. Ylonen and S. Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-
277 filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.
278BSD June 21, 2019 BSD