EG2069
Using FTP between two UNIX computers

FTP, which is short for File Transfer Protocol is a standard protocol for transferring files between two computers over a network connection. It is implemented for a wide range of computer types, and it is very useful to know some aspects of FTP. FTP is a command-driven protocol, but there are a number of programs which provide a menu-driven interface to FTP. One such Windows implementation is available on the classroom computers.

It is nevertheless useful to know a few of the commands used in FTP, in case you should need to transfer files between two computers running UNIX, for example.

Some FTP commands

• ftp remote_computer - Start ftp on the host computer. After the ftp program has been started, the prompt should change to "ftp>" until you leave ftp. If you leave out the name of the remote computer, you can use the open command to connect to it from inside ftp.
• open remote_computer - Can be done when starting ftp as mentioned above. You will be asked for a username and password.
• cd remote_directory - Change directory on remote computer. Use the directory name ".." to go up one directory level.
• lcd local_direcory - Change directory on local computer, i.e. the computer you started ftp from. Use the directory name ".." to go up one directory level.
• dir - Get a directory listing from the remote computer.
• get remote_file - Get a file from the remote computer
• mget remote_files - Get multiple files from the remote computer. Use a wildcard such as '*' as filename. You will be asked to confirm the operation for each file to be transferred.
• put local_file - Download a file to the remote computer.
• mput local_files - Download multiple files to the remote computer. Use a wildcard such as '*' as filename. You will be asked to confirm the operation for each file to be transferred.
• close - Close the connection to the remote computer without closing the ftp program.
• bye - Close the ftp program (and the connection to the remote computer).

A sample ftp session is shown below:

sysa% mkdir cprog
sysa% cd cprog
sysa% ftp goss.eng.abdn.ac.uk
Connected to goss.eng.abdn.ac.uk.
220 goss.eng.abdn.ac.uk FTP server (Version 1.7.212.2 Tue Apr 21 12:14:46 GMT 19
98) ready.
Name (goss.eng.abdn.ac.uk:eng529): eng529
331 Password required for eng529.
Password:
230 User eng529 logged in.
ftp> cd cprog
250 CWD command successful.         
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /usr/bin/ls.
total 132
-rwx--x--x   1 eng529     eng          24628 Nov 10 15:12 a.out
-rw-------   1 eng529     eng            125 Nov 10 15:12 first.c
-rw-------   1 eng529     eng            127 Nov 10 15:12 program1.c
-rwx--x--x   1 eng529     eng          37012 Nov 10 15:12 roots
-rw-------   1 eng529     eng           1828 Nov 10 15:12 roots.c
226 Transfer complete.
345 bytes received in 0.054 seconds (6.25 Kbytes/s)
ftp> get roots.c
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for roots.c (1828 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: roots.c remote: roots.c
1887 bytes received in 0.0083 seconds (221.22 Kbytes/s)            
ftp> mget *.c
mget first.c? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for first.c (125 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: first.c remote: first.c
135 bytes received in 0.02 seconds (6.60 Kbytes/s)
mget program1.c? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for program1.c (127 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: program1.c remote: program1.c
136 bytes received in 0.031 seconds (4.29 Kbytes/s)
mget roots.c? n
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.       
sysa% ls -l
total 8
-rw-------   1 eng529   eng          125 Nov 10 15:16 first.c
-rw-------   1 eng529   eng          127 Nov 10 15:16 program1.c
-rw-------   1 eng529   eng         1828 Nov 10 15:15 roots.c
sysa%

10.nov.2000 - Helge Nareid