1SFTP(1) BSD General Commands Manual SFTP(1)
2
4 sftp — secure file transfer program
5
7 sftp [-1246Cpqrv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-c cipher]
8 [-D sftp_server_path] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file]
9 [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-R num_requests] [-S program]
10 [-s subsystem | sftp_server] host
11 sftp [user@]host[:file ...]
12 sftp [user@]host[:dir[/]]
13 sftp -b batchfile [user@]host
14
16 sftp is an interactive file transfer program, similar to ftp(1), which
17 performs all operations over an encrypted ssh(1) transport. It may also
18 use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and compres‐
19 sion. sftp connects and logs into the specified host, then enters an
20 interactive command mode.
21 The second usage format will retrieve files automatically if a non-inter‐
23 active authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after suc‐
24 cessful interactive authentication.
25 The third usage format allows sftp to start in a remote directory.
27 The final usage format allows for automated sessions using the -b option.
29 In such cases, it is necessary to configure non-interactive authentica‐
30 tion to obviate the need to enter a password at connection time (see
31 sshd(8) and ssh-keygen(1) for details). The options are as follows:
32 -1 Specify the use of protocol version 1.
34 -2 Specify the use of protocol version 2.
36 -4 Forces sftp to use IPv4 addresses only.
38 -6 Forces sftp to use IPv6 addresses only.
40 -B buffer_size
42 Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when transferring
43 files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of
44 higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes.
45 -b batchfile
47 Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input batchfile
48 instead of stdin. Since it lacks user interaction it should be
49 used in conjunction with non-interactive authentication. A
50 batchfile of ‘-’ may be used to indicate standard input. sftp
51 will abort if any of the following commands fail: get, put,
52 rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod, chown, chgrp,
53 lpwd, df, and lmkdir. Termination on error can be suppressed on
54 a command by command basis by prefixing the command with a ‘-’
55 character (for example, -rm /tmp/blah*).
56 -C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag).
58 -c cipher
60 Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
61 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
62 -D sftp_server_path
64 Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via ssh(1)).
65 This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
66 -F ssh_config
68 Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh(1).
69 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
70 -i identity_file
72 Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public
73 key authentication is read. This option is directly passed to
74 ssh(1).
75 -o ssh_option
77 Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
78 ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for which
79 there is no separate sftp command-line flag. For example, to
80 specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. For full details
81 of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
82 ssh_config(5).
83 AddressFamily
85 BatchMode
86 BindAddress
87 ChallengeResponseAuthentication
88 CheckHostIP
89 Cipher
90 Ciphers
91 Compression
92 CompressionLevel
93 ConnectionAttempts
94 ConnectTimeout
95 ControlMaster
96 ControlPath
97 GlobalKnownHostsFile
98 GSSAPIAuthentication
99 GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
100 HashKnownHosts
101 Host
102 HostbasedAuthentication
103 HostKeyAlgorithms
104 HostKeyAlias
105 HostName
106 IdentityFile
107 IdentitiesOnly
108 KbdInteractiveDevices
109 LogLevel
110 MACs
111 NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
112 NumberOfPasswordPrompts
113 PasswordAuthentication
114 PKCS11Provider
115 Port
116 PreferredAuthentications
117 Protocol
118 ProxyCommand
119 PubkeyAuthentication
120 RekeyLimit
121 RhostsRSAAuthentication
122 RSAAuthentication
123 SendEnv
124 ServerAliveInterval
125 ServerAliveCountMax
126 StrictHostKeyChecking
127 TCPKeepAlive
128 UsePrivilegedPort
129 User
130 UserKnownHostsFile
131 VerifyHostKeyDNS
132 -P port
134 Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
135 -p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
137 original files transferred.
138 -q Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
140 diagnostic messages from ssh(1).
141 -R num_requests
143 Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
144 Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed but will
145 increase memory usage. The default is 64 outstanding requests.
146 -r Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and download‐
148 ing. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links encountered
149 in the tree traversal.
150 -S program
152 Name of the program to use for the encrypted connection. The
153 program must understand ssh(1) options.
154 -s subsystem | sftp_server
156 Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on
157 the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over protocol
158 version 1, or when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp sub‐
159 system configured.
160 -v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
162
164 Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to
165 those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive. Pathnames that contain
166 spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Any special characters contained
167 within pathnames that are recognized by glob(3) must be escaped with
168 backslashes (‘\’).
169 bye Quit sftp.
171 cd path
173 Change remote directory to path.
174 chgrp grp path
176 Change group of file path to grp. path may contain glob(3) char‐
177 acters and may match multiple files. grp must be a numeric GID.
178 chmod mode path
180 Change permissions of file path to mode. path may contain
181 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
182 chown own path
184 Change owner of file path to own. path may contain glob(3) char‐
185 acters and may match multiple files. own must be a numeric UID.
186 df [-hi] [path]
188 Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current
189 directory (or path if specified). If the -h flag is specified,
190 the capacity information will be displayed using "human-readable"
191 suffixes. The -i flag requests display of inode information in
192 addition to capacity information. This command is only supported
193 on servers that implement the “statvfs@openssh.com” extension.
194 exit Quit sftp.
196 get [-Ppr] remote-path [local-path]
198 Retrieve the remote-path and store it on the local machine. If
199 the local path name is not specified, it is given the same name
200 it has on the remote machine. remote-path may contain glob(3)
201 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
202 local-path is specified, then local-path must specify a direc‐
203 tory.
204 If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file permis‐
206 sions and access times are copied too.
207 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
209 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
210 performing recursive transfers.
211 help Display help text.
213 lcd path
215 Change local directory to path.
216 lls [ls-options [path]]
218 Display local directory listing of either path or current direc‐
219 tory if path is not specified. ls-options may contain any flags
220 supported by the local system's ls(1) command. path may contain
221 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
222 lmkdir path
224 Create local directory specified by path.
225 ln oldpath newpath
227 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
228 lpwd Print local working directory.
230 ls [-1afhlnrSt] [path]
232 Display a remote directory listing of either path or the current
233 directory if path is not specified. path may contain glob(3)
234 characters and may match multiple files.
235 The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of ls
237 accordingly:
238 -1 Produce single columnar output.
240 -a List files beginning with a dot (‘.’).
242 -f Do not sort the listing. The default sort order is lexi‐
244 cographical.
245 -h When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes:
247 Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte,
248 and Exabyte in order to reduce the number of digits to
249 four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
250 M=1048576, etc.).
251 -l Display additional details including permissions and own‐
253 ership information.
254 -n Produce a long listing with user and group information
256 presented numerically.
257 -r Reverse the sort order of the listing.
259 -S Sort the listing by file size.
261 -t Sort the listing by last modification time.
263 lumask umask
265 Set local umask to umask.
266 mkdir path
268 Create remote directory specified by path.
269 progress
271 Toggle display of progress meter.
272 put [-Ppr] local-path [remote-path]
274 Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine. If the
275 remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it
276 has on the local machine. local-path may contain glob(3) charac‐
277 ters and may match multiple files. If it does and remote-path is
278 specified, then remote-path must specify a directory.
279 If ether the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file permis‐
281 sions and access times are copied too.
282 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
284 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
285 performing recursive transfers.
286 pwd Display remote working directory.
288 quit Quit sftp.
290 rename oldpath newpath
292 Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
293 rm path
295 Delete remote file specified by path.
296 rmdir path
298 Remove remote directory specified by path.
299 symlink oldpath newpath
301 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
302 version
304 Display the sftp protocol version.
305 !command
307 Execute command in local shell.
308 ! Escape to local shell.
310 ? Synonym for help.
312
314 ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), glob(3),
315 ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)
316 T. Ylonen and S. Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-
318 filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.
319BSD June 22, 2019 BSD