sftp - Linux manual page

Quick Usage Example

~/$ sftp -P 22 username@example.com
Connected to example.com.
sftp> put favicon.ico
Uploading favicon.ico to /root/favicon.ico
favicon.ico 100% 1150 3.6KB/s 00:00
sftp> ls -lh
drwx------ ? 0 0 4.0K Jun 30 00:37 .
drwxr-xr-x ? 0 0 4.0K Jun 5 18:10 ..
-rw-r--r-- ? 0 0 1.1K Jul 2 20:24 favicon.ico
sftp> get favicon.ico
Fetching /root/favicon.ico to favicon.ico
/root/favicon.ico 100% 1150 1.8KB/s 00:00
sftp> rm favicon.ico
Removing /root/favicon.ico

SFTP man page

SFTP(1)                               BSD General Commands Manual                              SFTP(1)

NAME
     sftp — OpenSSH secure file transfer

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

DESCRIPTION
     sftp is a file transfer program, similar to ftp(1), which performs all operations over an en‐
     crypted ssh(1) transport.  It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentica‐
     tion 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 automati‐
     cally if a non-interactive authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after success‐
     ful 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      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 authentica‐
             tion 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, 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 com‐
             bined 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_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).

     -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 exam‐
             ple, 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
                   ChallengeResponseAuthentication
                   CheckHostIP
                   Ciphers
                   Compression
                   ConnectionAttempts
                   ConnectTimeout
                   ControlMaster
                   ControlPath
                   ControlPersist
                   GlobalKnownHostsFile
                   GSSAPIAuthentication
                   GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
                   HashKnownHosts
                   Host
                   HostbasedAuthentication
                   HostbasedKeyTypes
                   HostKeyAlgorithms
                   HostKeyAlias
                   Hostname
                   IdentitiesOnly
                   IdentityAgent
                   IdentityFile
                   IPQoS
                   KbdInteractiveAuthentication
                   KbdInteractiveDevices
                   KexAlgorithms
                   LogLevel
                   MACs
                   NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
                   NumberOfPasswordPrompts
                   PasswordAuthentication
                   PKCS11Provider
                   Port
                   PreferredAuthentications
                   ProxyCommand
                   ProxyJump
                   PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes
                   PubkeyAuthentication
                   RekeyLimit
                   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 trans‐
             ferred.

     -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.

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
     Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to those of ftp(1).  Com‐
     mands are case insensitive.  Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes.  Any spe‐
     cial 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.  If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
             followed.  path may contain glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.  grp must be
             a numeric GID.

     chmod [-h] mode path
             Change permissions of file path to mode.  If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will
             not be followed.  path may contain glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.

     chown [-h] own path
             Change owner of file path to own.  If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
             followed.  path may contain glob(7) 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 us‐
             ing "human-readable" suffixes.  The -i flag requests display of inode information in ad‐
             dition to capacity information.  This command is only supported on servers that implement
             the “statvfs@openssh.com” 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 speci‐
             fied.  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 speci‐
             fied, 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 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
     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.

BSD                                         April 23, 2020                                         BSD