Scripting FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a common method for transferring files between two locations. The FTP client supports many command-line switches, as listed in Table 9, to control how it starts.

Table 9: Common FTP switches.

Parameter	Description
-i	Interactive mode, turns off interactive prompting during multiple file transfers
-n	Prevents automatic logon
-s	Specifies an FTP script to run
-v	Verbose mode, turns on transfer data statistics and responses

Once the FTP client is active, you can enter various commands to list, delete, put, and retrieve files.

Table 10 lists the most common FTP commands.

Table 10: Common FTP commands.

Parameter	Description
ascii	Selected by default, sets the file transfer site to use ASCII format (shar, uu)
binary	Sets the file transfer site to use binary format (Z, ARC, TAR, ZIP)
bye	Terminates the current FTP session and exits the FTP program
cd directory	Changes the directory on the remote system
close	Terminates the current FTP session
delete file	Deletes a remote file
get file	Retrieves a single file from the remote system
lcd directory	Changes the directory on the local system
mdelete files	Deletes remote files
mget files	Retrieves multiple files from the remote system
mput files	Uploads local files to a remote system
open host	Establishes a connection to the host name specified
password	Specifies the password for the account name
password	specified
prompt	Toggles interactive prompting
put file	Uploads a local file to a remote system
user name	Specifies the account name to connect to the remote system