1 SFTP(1) General Commands Manual SFTP(1)
4 sftp M-bM-^@M-^S secure file transfer program
7 sftp [-1246aCfpqrv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-c cipher]
8 [-D sftp_server_path] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file] [-l limit]
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
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
19 compression. sftp connects and logs into the specified host, then enters
20 an interactive command mode.
22 The second usage format will retrieve files automatically if a non-
23 interactive authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after
24 successful interactive authentication.
26 The third usage format allows sftp to start in a remote directory.
28 The final usage format allows for automated sessions using the -b option.
29 In such cases, it is necessary to configure non-interactive
30 authentication to obviate the need to enter a password at connection time
31 (see sshd(8) and ssh-keygen(1) for details).
33 Since some usage formats use colon characters to delimit host names from
34 path names, IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets to avoid
37 The options are as follows:
39 -1 Specify the use of protocol version 1.
41 -2 Specify the use of protocol version 2.
43 -4 Forces sftp to use IPv4 addresses only.
45 -6 Forces sftp to use IPv6 addresses only.
47 -a Attempt to continue interrupted transfers rather than overwriting
48 existing partial or complete copies of files. If the partial
49 contents differ from those being transferred, then the resultant
50 file is likely to be corrupt.
53 Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when transferring
54 files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of
55 higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes.
58 Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input batchfile
59 instead of stdin. Since it lacks user interaction it should be
60 used in conjunction with non-interactive authentication. A
61 batchfile of M-bM-^@M-^X-M-bM-^@M-^Y may be used to indicate standard input. sftp
62 will abort if any of the following commands fail: get, put,
63 reget, reput, rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod,
64 chown, chgrp, lpwd, df, symlink, and lmkdir. Termination on
65 error can be suppressed on a command by command basis by
66 prefixing the command with a M-bM-^@M-^X-M-bM-^@M-^Y character (for example, -rm
69 -C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag).
72 Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
73 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
76 Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via ssh(1)).
77 This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
80 Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh(1).
81 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
83 -f Requests that files be flushed to disk immediately after
84 transfer. When uploading files, this feature is only enabled if
85 the server implements the "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
88 Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public
89 key authentication is read. This option is directly passed to
93 Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
96 Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
97 ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for which
98 there is no separate sftp command-line flag. For example, to
99 specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. For full details
100 of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
107 CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
110 CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
111 ChallengeResponseAuthentication
124 GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
127 HostbasedAuthentication
135 KbdInteractiveAuthentication
136 KbdInteractiveDevices
140 NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
141 NumberOfPasswordPrompts
142 PasswordAuthentication
145 PreferredAuthentications
150 RhostsRSAAuthentication
155 StrictHostKeyChecking
164 Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
166 -p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
167 original files transferred.
169 -q Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
170 diagnostic messages from ssh(1).
173 Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
174 Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed but will
175 increase memory usage. The default is 64 outstanding requests.
177 -r Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and
178 downloading. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links
179 encountered in the tree traversal.
182 Name of the program to use for the encrypted connection. The
183 program must understand ssh(1) options.
185 -s subsystem | sftp_server
186 Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on
187 the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over protocol
188 version 1, or when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp
189 subsystem configured.
191 -v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
194 Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to
195 those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive. Pathnames that contain
196 spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Any special characters contained
197 within pathnames that are recognized by glob(3) must be escaped with
198 backslashes (M-bM-^@M-^X\M-bM-^@M-^Y).
203 Change remote directory to path.
206 Change group of file path to grp. path may contain glob(3)
207 characters and may match multiple files. grp must be a numeric
211 Change permissions of file path to mode. path may contain
212 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
215 Change owner of file path to own. path may contain glob(3)
216 characters and may match multiple files. own must be a numeric
220 Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current
221 directory (or path if specified). If the -h flag is specified,
222 the capacity information will be displayed using "human-readable"
223 suffixes. The -i flag requests display of inode information in
224 addition to capacity information. This command is only supported
225 on servers that implement the M-bM-^@M-^\statvfs@openssh.comM-bM-^@M-^] extension.
229 get [-afPpr] remote-path [local-path]
230 Retrieve the remote-path and store it on the local machine. If
231 the local path name is not specified, it is given the same name
232 it has on the remote machine. remote-path may contain glob(3)
233 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
234 local-path is specified, then local-path must specify a
237 If the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial
238 transfers of existing files. Note that resumption assumes that
239 any partial copy of the local file matches the remote copy. If
240 the remote file contents differ from the partial local copy then
241 the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
243 If the -f flag is specified, then fsync(2) will be called after
244 the file transfer has completed to flush the file to disk.
246 If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file
247 permissions and access times are copied too.
249 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
250 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
251 performing recursive transfers.
253 help Display help text.
256 Change local directory to path.
258 lls [ls-options [path]]
259 Display local directory listing of either path or current
260 directory if path is not specified. ls-options may contain any
261 flags supported by the local system's ls(1) command. path may
262 contain glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
265 Create local directory specified by path.
267 ln [-s] oldpath newpath
268 Create a link from oldpath to newpath. If the -s flag is
269 specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise it is a
272 lpwd Print local working directory.
274 ls [-1afhlnrSt] [path]
275 Display a remote directory listing of either path or the current
276 directory if path is not specified. path may contain glob(3)
277 characters and may match multiple files.
279 The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of ls
282 -1 Produce single columnar output.
284 -a List files beginning with a dot (M-bM-^@M-^X.M-bM-^@M-^Y).
286 -f Do not sort the listing. The default sort order is
289 -h When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes:
290 Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte,
291 and Exabyte in order to reduce the number of digits to
292 four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
295 -l Display additional details including permissions and
296 ownership information.
298 -n Produce a long listing with user and group information
299 presented numerically.
301 -r Reverse the sort order of the listing.
303 -S Sort the listing by file size.
305 -t Sort the listing by last modification time.
308 Set local umask to umask.
311 Create remote directory specified by path.
314 Toggle display of progress meter.
316 put [-afPpr] local-path [remote-path]
317 Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine. If the
318 remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it
319 has on the local machine. local-path may contain glob(3)
320 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
321 remote-path is specified, then remote-path must specify a
324 If the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial
325 transfers of existing files. Note that resumption assumes that
326 any partial copy of the remote file matches the local copy. If
327 the local file contents differ from the remote local copy then
328 the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
330 If the -f flag is specified, then a request will be sent to the
331 server to call fsync(2) after the file has been transferred.
332 Note that this is only supported by servers that implement the
333 "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
335 If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file
336 permissions and access times are copied too.
338 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
339 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
340 performing recursive transfers.
342 pwd Display remote working directory.
346 reget [-Ppr] remote-path [local-path]
347 Resume download of remote-path. Equivalent to get with the -a
350 reput [-Ppr] [local-path] remote-path
351 Resume upload of [local-path]. Equivalent to put with the -a
354 rename oldpath newpath
355 Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
358 Delete remote file specified by path.
361 Remove remote directory specified by path.
363 symlink oldpath newpath
364 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
367 Display the sftp protocol version.
370 Execute command in local shell.
372 ! Escape to local shell.
377 ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), glob(3),
378 ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)
380 T. Ylonen and S. Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-
381 filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.
383 OpenBSD 5.7 January 30, 2015 OpenBSD 5.7