sftp

secure file transfer program

sftp [‑1246Cpqrv] [‑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

Performs all operations over an encrypted ssh transport. Uses public key authentication and compression features of ssh.

sftp [user@]host[:file …] : retrieves files

sftp [user]host[:dir[/]] start in a remote directory.

sftp -b batchfile [user@]host : automated session.
To supress the interactive entering of a password, configure non-interactive authentication ( -F configfile )

IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets .

-p preserve times and modes from the original files transferred. Default not preserved!
INCLUDE -p on wget

-b file batch read commands from file, - specifies standard input.
Aborts on failure of:get, put, rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod, chown, chgrp, lpwd, df, symlink, and lmkdir.
Termination on error can be suppressed by prefixing the command with - (Example: -rm /tmp/blah*).

-r recursively copy entire directories. Does not follow symbolic links

-P port

-q quiet disables progress meter, warning and diagnostic messages

-a append to files which were partially transfered.

-v Increase verbosity of logging level, also passed to ssh.
After debug1: Exit status 0 enter a ␍ to continue

-C compression

-F ssh_config configuration

-c cipher Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.

-i identity_file from which the identity (private key) for public key authentication is read, passed to ssh(1).

-l limit limits the bandwidth, Kbit/s.

-o ssh_option

Pass options to ssh in the format used in ssh_config, for which there is no sftp flag.

For example, to specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. See ssh_config.

AddressFamily BatchMode BindAddress ChallengeResponseAuthentication CheckHostIP Cipher Ciphers Compression CompressionLevel ConnectionAttempts ConnectTimeout ControlMaster ControlPath ControlPersist GlobalKnownHostsFile GSSAPIAuthentication GSSAPIDelegateCredentials HashKnownHosts Host HostbasedAuthentication 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 UsePrivilegedPort User UserKnownHostsFile VerifyHostKeyDNS

-S program to use for the encrypted connection.

-s subsystem | sftp_server SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on the remote host for using over protocol version 1, or
when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp subsystem configured.

-1|-2 protocol version

-4|-6 Forces IPv4|IPV6 addresses only.

-B buffer_size when transferring files. Default : 32768 bytes.

-R num_requests Number of outstanding requests. default 64

-D ftp_srvr_path Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via ssh(1)). for debugging server.

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS

Commands are case insensitive.
Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes.
Special characters in pathnames that are recognized by glob must be escaped with backslashes (\)

ls [-1alhfnrSt] [path] remote directory listing of either path or the current directory.
path may contain glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.

cd path < b>Change remote directory

chgrp GID path Change group of path to GID. path may contain glob characters and may match multiple files.
grp numeric GID.

chmod mode path Change mode (permissions) of path path path may contain glob(3) characters

chown own path Change owner of path. path may contain glob(3) characters …
own must be a numeric UID.

progress

Toggle display of progress meter.

`-1`	one column
`-a`	all files are listed including those beginning with a dot ('.').
`-l`	long format Display additional details including permissions and ownership information.
`-h`	human format size, With a long format option, unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte … in order to reduce the number of digits to four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024, M=1048576, etc.).
`-n`	numerical IDs user and group.
`-f`	Do not sort the listing. The default sort order is lexicographical.
`-r`	reverse sort
`-S`	size of file is sort key
`-t`	time of last modification is sort key

get [-Ppr] remote-path [local-path]

Retrieve the remote-path and store it locally.
local-path must specify a directory.

If local-path is not specified, remote-path name will be used. remote-path may contain glob characters

Must specify -P or -p to copy full file permissions and times .
With -r directories will be copied recursively. Symbolic links are not followed.

put [-Ppr] local-path [remote-path]

Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine.
If 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 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 Print working directory.

mkdir path make directory

ln [-s] oldpath newpath link from oldpath to newpath.
With -s link is a symbolic , otherwise it is a hard link.

rename oldpath newpath Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.

df [-h] [path] Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current directory (or path if specified).
-h the capacity information will be displayed using "human-readable" suffixes.

Local commands

lpwd Print local working directory.

lls [options [path]] local ls. ls options may contain any flags supported by the local system's ls command.
path may contain glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.

lcd path local Change directory

lmkdir path local mkdir

lumask umask Set local umask

rm path remove file

rmdir path Remove directory

symlink oldpath newpath Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.

!command Execute command/ in local shell.

! Escape to local shell.

version Must be connected AND loged in to display version of PROTOCOL! SFTP protocol version 3

quit|bye|exit

?|help help.

Errors

 
Received message too long 2054383648 = 0x 7A736820 ='zsh ' 
Received message too long  778199411 = 0x 2E626173 ='.bas'
Received message too long 1226858861 = 0x 4920616D ='I AM'
Received message too long 1701733408 = 0x 656E6420 ='end '
Received message too long 2054383648 = 0x 7A736820 ='zsh '

Use bc to convert integer code to hex :obase=16; 1226858861␍
4920616D , then look up the ASCII characters
I a m , as in 'I am .profile , v1.26 called from …')
To see what the text is use : /usr/bin/ssh server /bin/true > out.dat

This is caused by any output from the various login scripts, profile, .profile, .bachrc, …
To corret this include, before any tty output, if [ -z "$PS1" ]; then return; fi

stat sourceName No such file or directory

sftp issues a stat on the source before it does a put so it blames stat.

Version on mac sequoia 15.2 from strings:

/AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/2320404a-91c6-11ef-92c1-daac7d5d70b1/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/OpenSSH/openssh/sftp-usergroup.c

sftp is included with the raspberryPi system

Omissions from most ftp programs

There does not seem to be any support for a .netrc file to provide user/password. Use ssh Host-based or Public key authentication.

See

ftp, ls, scp, ssh, ssh-add, ssh-keygen, glob, ssh_config, sftp-server, sshd

ssh_config.html, Eample:ssh_config