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.

-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. Termination 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 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
    ChallengeResponseAuthentication
    CheckHostIP
    Cipher
    Ciphers
    Compression
    CompressionLevel
    ConnectionAttempts
    ConnectTimeout
    ControlMaster
    ControlPath
    ControlPersist
    GlobalKnownHostsFile
    GSSAPIAuthentication
    GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
    HashKnownHosts
    Host
    HostbasedAuthentication
    HostbasedKeyTypes
    HostKeyAlgorithms
    HostKeyAlias
    HostName
    IdentityFile
    IdentitiesOnly
    IPQoS
    KbdInteractiveAuthentication
    KbdInteractiveDevices
    KexAlgorithms
    LogLevel
    MACs
    NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
    NumberOfPasswordPrompts
    PasswordAuthentication
    PKCS11Provider
    Port
    PreferredAuthentications
    Protocol
    ProxyCommand
    PubkeyAuthentication
    RekeyLimit
    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 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 for using sftp over protocol version 1, or when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp subsystem configured.

-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 contain 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 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 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, 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(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 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 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 "fsync@openssh.com" extension.

    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.

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.

!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) T. Ylonen, S. Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.