sftp(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | INTERACTIVE COMMANDS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

SFTP(1)                  General Commands Manual                 SFTP(1)

NAME         top

       sftp — OpenSSH secure file transfer

SYNOPSIS         top

       sftp [-46AaCfNpqrv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-c cipher]
       [-D sftp_server_command] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file] [-J
       destination] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-R
       num_requests] [-S program] [-s subsystem | sftp_server] [-X
       sftp_option] destination

DESCRIPTION         top

       sftp is a 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.

       The destination may be specified either as [user@]host[:path] or
       as a URI in the form sftp://[user@]host[:port][/path].

       If the destination includes a path and it is not a directory,
       sftp will retrieve files automatically if a non-interactive
       authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after
       successful interactive authentication.

       If no path is specified, or if the path is a directory, sftp will
       log in to the specified host and enter interactive command mode,
       changing to the remote directory if one was specified.  An
       optional trailing slash can be used to force the path to be
       interpreted as a directory.

       Since the destination formats use colon characters to delimit
       host names from path names or port numbers, IPv6 addresses must
       be enclosed in square brackets to avoid ambiguity.

       The options are as follows:

       -4      Forces sftp to use IPv4 addresses only.

       -6      Forces sftp to use IPv6 addresses only.

       -A      Allows forwarding of ssh-agent(1) to the remote system.
               The default is not to forward an authentication agent.

       -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.

       -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 to obviate the need to enter a
               password at connection time (see sshd(8) and
               ssh-keygen(1) for details).

               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, copy, cp, chmod, chown, chgrp, 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*).  Echo of the
               command may be suppressed by prefixing the command with a
               ‘@’ character.  These two prefixes may be combined in any
               order, for example -@ls /bsd.

       -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_command
               Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via
               ssh(1)).  A command and arguments may be specified, for
               example "/path/sftp-server -el debug3".  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 "[email protected]"
               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).

       -J destination
               Connect to the target host by first making an sftp
               connection to the jump host described by destination and
               then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate
               destination from there.  Multiple jump hops may be
               specified separated by comma characters.  This is a
               shortcut to specify a ProxyJump configuration directive.
               This option is directly passed to ssh(1).

       -l limit
               Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.

       -N      Disables quiet mode, e.g. to override the implicit quiet
               mode set by the -b flag.

       -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 use: sftp
               -oPort=24.  For full details of the options listed below,
               and their possible values, see ssh_config(5).

                     AddressFamily
                     BatchMode
                     BindAddress
                     BindInterface
                     CanonicalDomains
                     CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
                     CanonicalizeHostname
                     CanonicalizeMaxDots
                     CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
                     CASignatureAlgorithms
                     CertificateFile
                     CheckHostIP
                     Ciphers
                     Compression
                     ConnectionAttempts
                     ConnectTimeout
                     ControlMaster
                     ControlPath
                     ControlPersist
                     GlobalKnownHostsFile
                     GSSAPIAuthentication
                     GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
                     HashKnownHosts
                     Host
                     HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
                     HostbasedAuthentication
                     HostKeyAlgorithms
                     HostKeyAlias
                     Hostname
                     IdentitiesOnly
                     IdentityAgent
                     IdentityFile
                     IPQoS
                     KbdInteractiveAuthentication
                     KbdInteractiveDevices
                     KexAlgorithms
                     KnownHostsCommand
                     LogLevel
                     MACs
                     NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
                     NumberOfPasswordPrompts
                     PasswordAuthentication
                     PKCS11Provider
                     Port
                     PreferredAuthentications
                     ProxyCommand
                     ProxyJump
                     PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
                     PubkeyAuthentication
                     RekeyLimit
                     RequiredRSASize
                     SendEnv
                     ServerAliveInterval
                     ServerAliveCountMax
                     SetEnv
                     StrictHostKeyChecking
                     TCPKeepAlive
                     UpdateHostKeys
                     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 when the
               remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp subsystem
               configured.

       -v      Raise logging level.  This option is also passed to ssh.

       -X sftp_option
               Specify an option that controls aspects of SFTP protocol
               behaviour.  The valid options are:

               nrequests=value
                       Controls how many concurrent SFTP read or write
                       requests may be in progress at any point in time
                       during a download or upload.  By default 64
                       requests may be active concurrently.

               buffer=value
                       Controls the maximum buffer size for a single
                       SFTP read/write operation used during download or
                       upload.  By default a 32KB buffer is used.

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS         top

       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.  If path is not
               specified, then change directory to the one the session
               started in.

       chgrp [-h] grp path
               Change group of file path to grp.  path may contain
               glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.  grp
               must be a numeric GID.

               If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
               followed.  Note that this is only supported by servers
               that implement the "[email protected]" extension.

       chmod [-h] mode path
               Change permissions of file path to mode.  path may
               contain glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.

               If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
               followed.  Note that this is only supported by servers
               that implement the "[email protected]" extension.

       chown [-h] own path
               Change owner of file path to own.  path may contain
               glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.  own
               must be a numeric UID.

               If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
               followed.  Note that this is only supported by servers
               that implement the "[email protected]" extension.

       copy oldpath newpath
               Copy remote file from oldpath to newpath.

               Note that this is only supported by servers that
               implement the "copy-data" extension.

       cp oldpath newpath
               Alias to copy command.

       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 “[email protected]” extension.

       exit    Quit sftp.

       get [-afpR] 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(7) 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
               resumption assumes that any partial copy of the local
               file matches the remote copy.  If the remote file
               contents 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 the -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.  If path is not
               specified, then change directory to the local user's home
               directory.

       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(7) 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, 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(7) 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 [-afpR] 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(7) 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
               resumption 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 "[email protected]" extension.

               If the -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.

       pwd     Display remote working directory.

       quit    Quit sftp.

       reget [-fpR] remote-path [local-path]
               Resume download of remote-path.  Equivalent to get with
               the -a flag set.

       reput [-fpR] 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.

       !command
               Execute command in local shell.

       !       Escape to local shell.

       ?       Synonym for help.

SEE ALSO         top

       ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1),
       ssh_config(5), glob(7), sftp-server(8), sshd(8) T. Ylonen and S.
       Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-
       filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the openssh (Portable OpenSSH) project.
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       [email protected]

GNU                         December 16, 2022                    SFTP(1)

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