1 SFTP(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual SFTP(1)
4 sftp - secure file transfer program
7 sftp [-1246Cpqrv] [-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.
48 Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when transferring
49 files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of
50 higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes.
53 Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input batchfile
54 instead of stdin. Since it lacks user interaction it should be
55 used in conjunction with non-interactive authentication. A
56 batchfile of `-' may be used to indicate standard input. sftp
57 will abort if any of the following commands fail: get, put,
58 rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls, lchdir, chmod, chown, chgrp,
59 lpwd, df, symlink, and lmkdir. Termination on error can be
60 suppressed on a command by command basis by prefixing the command
61 with a `-' character (for example, -rm /tmp/blah*).
63 -C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag).
66 Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
67 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
70 Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via ssh(1)).
71 This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
74 Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh(1).
75 This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
78 Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public
79 key authentication is read. This option is directly passed to
83 Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
86 Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
87 ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for which
88 there is no separate sftp command-line flag. For example, to
89 specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. For full details
90 of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
96 ChallengeResponseAuthentication
108 GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
111 HostbasedAuthentication
118 KbdInteractiveDevices
122 NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
123 NumberOfPasswordPrompts
124 PasswordAuthentication
127 PreferredAuthentications
132 RhostsRSAAuthentication
137 StrictHostKeyChecking
145 Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
147 -p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
148 original files transferred.
150 -q Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
151 diagnostic messages from ssh(1).
154 Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
155 Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed but will
156 increase memory usage. The default is 64 outstanding requests.
158 -r Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and
159 downloading. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links
160 encountered in the tree traversal.
163 Name of the program to use for the encrypted connection. The
164 program must understand ssh(1) options.
166 -s subsystem | sftp_server
167 Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on
168 the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over protocol
169 version 1, or when the remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp
170 subsystem configured.
172 -v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
175 Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to
176 those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive. Pathnames that contain
177 spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Any special characters contained
178 within pathnames that are recognized by glob(3) must be escaped with
184 Change remote directory to path.
187 Change group of file path to grp. path may contain glob(3)
188 characters and may match multiple files. grp must be a numeric
192 Change permissions of file path to mode. path may contain
193 glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
196 Change owner of file path to own. path may contain glob(3)
197 characters and may match multiple files. own must be a numeric
201 Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current
202 directory (or path if specified). If the -h flag is specified,
203 the capacity information will be displayed using "human-readable"
204 suffixes. The -i flag requests display of inode information in
205 addition to capacity information. This command is only supported
206 on servers that implement the ``statvfs@openssh.com'' extension.
210 get [-Ppr] remote-path [local-path]
211 Retrieve the remote-path and store it on the local machine. If
212 the local path name is not specified, it is given the same name
213 it has on the remote machine. remote-path may contain glob(3)
214 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
215 local-path is specified, then local-path must specify a
218 If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file
219 permissions and access times are copied too.
221 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
222 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
223 performing recursive transfers.
225 help Display help text.
228 Change local directory to path.
230 lls [ls-options [path]]
231 Display local directory listing of either path or current
232 directory if path is not specified. ls-options may contain any
233 flags supported by the local system's ls(1) command. path may
234 contain glob(3) characters and may match multiple files.
237 Create local directory specified by path.
239 ln [-s] oldpath newpath
240 Create a link from oldpath to newpath. If the -s flag is
241 specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise it is a
244 lpwd Print local working directory.
246 ls [-1afhlnrSt] [path]
247 Display a remote directory listing of either path or the current
248 directory if path is not specified. path may contain glob(3)
249 characters and may match multiple files.
251 The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of ls
254 -1 Produce single columnar output.
256 -a List files beginning with a dot (`.').
258 -f Do not sort the listing. The default sort order is
261 -h When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes:
262 Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte,
263 and Exabyte in order to reduce the number of digits to
264 four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
267 -l Display additional details including permissions and
268 ownership information.
270 -n Produce a long listing with user and group information
271 presented numerically.
273 -r Reverse the sort order of the listing.
275 -S Sort the listing by file size.
277 -t Sort the listing by last modification time.
280 Set local umask to umask.
283 Create remote directory specified by path.
286 Toggle display of progress meter.
288 put [-Ppr] local-path [remote-path]
289 Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine. If the
290 remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it
291 has on the local machine. local-path may contain glob(3)
292 characters and may match multiple files. If it does and
293 remote-path is specified, then remote-path must specify a
296 If either the -P or -p flag is specified, then full file
297 permissions and access times are copied too.
299 If the -r flag is specified then directories will be copied
300 recursively. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic links when
301 performing recursive transfers.
303 pwd Display remote working directory.
307 rename oldpath newpath
308 Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
311 Delete remote file specified by path.
314 Remove remote directory specified by path.
316 symlink oldpath newpath
317 Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
320 Display the sftp protocol version.
323 Execute command in local shell.
325 ! Escape to local shell.
330 ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), glob(3),
331 ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)
333 T. Ylonen and S. Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol,
334 draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress
337 OpenBSD 5.0 August 7, 2011 OpenBSD 5.0