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1.\" $OpenBSD: sftp.1,v 1.131 2020/04/23 21:28:09 jmc Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2001 Damien Miller.  All rights reserved.
4.\"
5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
7.\" are met:
8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
9.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
12.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
13.\"
14.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
16.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
17.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
18.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
19.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
20.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
21.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
22.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
23.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
24.\"
25.Dd $Mdocdate: April 23 2020 $
26.Dt SFTP 1
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm sftp
30.Nd OpenSSH secure file transfer
31.Sh SYNOPSIS
32.Nm sftp
33.Op Fl 46aCfNpqrv
34.Op Fl B Ar buffer_size
35.Op Fl b Ar batchfile
36.Op Fl c Ar cipher
37.Op Fl D Ar sftp_server_path
38.Op Fl F Ar ssh_config
39.Op Fl i Ar identity_file
40.Op Fl J Ar destination
41.Op Fl l Ar limit
42.Op Fl o Ar ssh_option
43.Op Fl P Ar port
44.Op Fl R Ar num_requests
45.Op Fl S Ar program
46.Op Fl s Ar subsystem | sftp_server
47.Ar destination
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49.Nm
50is a file transfer program, similar to
51.Xr ftp 1 ,
52which performs all operations over an encrypted
53.Xr ssh 1
54transport.
55It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and
56compression.
57.Pp
58The
59.Ar destination
60may be specified either as
61.Sm off
62.Oo user @ Oc host Op : path
63.Sm on
64or as a URI in the form
65.Sm off
66.No sftp:// Oo user @ Oc host Oo : port Oc Op / path .
67.Sm on
68.Pp
69If the
70.Ar destination
71includes a
72.Ar path
73and it is not a directory,
74.Nm
75will retrieve files automatically if a non-interactive
76authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after
77successful interactive authentication.
78.Pp
79If no
80.Ar path
81is specified, or if the
82.Ar path
83is a directory,
84.Nm
85will log in to the specified
86.Ar host
87and enter interactive command mode, changing to the remote directory
88if one was specified.
89An optional trailing slash can be used to force the
90.Ar path
91to be interpreted as a directory.
92.Pp
93Since the destination formats use colon characters to delimit host
94names from path names or port numbers, IPv6 addresses must be
95enclosed in square brackets to avoid ambiguity.
96.Pp
97The options are as follows:
98.Bl -tag -width Ds
99.It Fl 4
100Forces
101.Nm
102to use IPv4 addresses only.
103.It Fl 6
104Forces
105.Nm
106to use IPv6 addresses only.
107.It Fl a
108Attempt to continue interrupted transfers rather than overwriting
109existing partial or complete copies of files.
110If the partial contents differ from those being transferred,
111then the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
112.It Fl B Ar buffer_size
113Specify the size of the buffer that
114.Nm
115uses when transferring files.
116Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of higher
117memory consumption.
118The default is 32768 bytes.
119.It Fl b Ar batchfile
120Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input
121.Ar batchfile
122instead of
123.Em stdin .
124Since it lacks user interaction it should be used in conjunction with
125non-interactive authentication to obviate the need to enter a password
126at connection time (see
127.Xr sshd 8
128and
129.Xr ssh-keygen 1
130for details).
131.Pp
132A
133.Ar batchfile
134of
135.Sq \-
136may be used to indicate standard input.
137.Nm
138will abort if any of the following
139commands fail:
140.Ic get , put , reget , reput , rename , ln ,
141.Ic rm , mkdir , chdir , ls ,
142.Ic lchdir , chmod , chown ,
143.Ic chgrp , lpwd , df , symlink ,
144and
145.Ic lmkdir .
146.Pp
147Termination on error can be suppressed on a command by command basis by
148prefixing the command with a
149.Sq \-
150character (for example,
151.Ic -rm /tmp/blah* ) .
152Echo of the command may be suppressed by prefixing the command with a
153.Sq @
154character.
155These two prefixes may be combined in any order, for example
156.Ic -@ls /bsd .
157.It Fl C
158Enables compression (via ssh's
159.Fl C
160flag).
161.It Fl c Ar cipher
162Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
163This option is directly passed to
164.Xr ssh 1 .
165.It Fl D Ar sftp_server_path
166Connect directly to a local sftp server
167(rather than via
168.Xr ssh 1 ) .
169This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
170.It Fl F Ar ssh_config
171Specifies an alternative
172per-user configuration file for
173.Xr ssh 1 .
174This option is directly passed to
175.Xr ssh 1 .
176.It Fl f
177Requests that files be flushed to disk immediately after transfer.
178When uploading files, this feature is only enabled if the server
179implements the "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
180.It Fl i Ar identity_file
181Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public key
182authentication is read.
183This option is directly passed to
184.Xr ssh 1 .
185.It Fl J Ar destination
186Connect to the target host by first making an
187.Nm
188connection to the jump host described by
189.Ar destination
190and then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate destination from
191there.
192Multiple jump hops may be specified separated by comma characters.
193This is a shortcut to specify a
194.Cm ProxyJump
195configuration directive.
196This option is directly passed to
197.Xr ssh 1 .
198.It Fl l Ar limit
199Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
200.It Fl N
201Disables quiet mode, e.g. to override the implicit quiet mode set by the
202.Fl b
203flag.
204.It Fl o Ar ssh_option
205Can be used to pass options to
206.Nm ssh
207in the format used in
208.Xr ssh_config 5 .
209This is useful for specifying options
210for which there is no separate
211.Nm sftp
212command-line flag.
213For example, to specify an alternate port use:
214.Ic sftp -oPort=24 .
215For full details of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
216.Xr ssh_config 5 .
217.Pp
218.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
219.It AddressFamily
220.It BatchMode
221.It BindAddress
222.It BindInterface
223.It CanonicalDomains
224.It CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
225.It CanonicalizeHostname
226.It CanonicalizeMaxDots
227.It CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
228.It CASignatureAlgorithms
229.It CertificateFile
230.It ChallengeResponseAuthentication
231.It CheckHostIP
232.It Ciphers
233.It Compression
234.It ConnectionAttempts
235.It ConnectTimeout
236.It ControlMaster
237.It ControlPath
238.It ControlPersist
239.It GlobalKnownHostsFile
240.It GSSAPIAuthentication
241.It GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
242.It HashKnownHosts
243.It Host
244.It HostbasedAuthentication
245.It HostbasedKeyTypes
246.It HostKeyAlgorithms
247.It HostKeyAlias
248.It Hostname
249.It IdentitiesOnly
250.It IdentityAgent
251.It IdentityFile
252.It IPQoS
253.It KbdInteractiveAuthentication
254.It KbdInteractiveDevices
255.It KexAlgorithms
256.It LogLevel
257.It MACs
258.It NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
259.It NumberOfPasswordPrompts
260.It PasswordAuthentication
261.It PKCS11Provider
262.It Port
263.It PreferredAuthentications
264.It ProxyCommand
265.It ProxyJump
266.It PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes
267.It PubkeyAuthentication
268.It RekeyLimit
269.It SendEnv
270.It ServerAliveInterval
271.It ServerAliveCountMax
272.It SetEnv
273.It StrictHostKeyChecking
274.It TCPKeepAlive
275.It UpdateHostKeys
276.It User
277.It UserKnownHostsFile
278.It VerifyHostKeyDNS
279.El
280.It Fl P Ar port
281Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
282.It Fl p
283Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
284original files transferred.
285.It Fl q
286Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
287diagnostic messages from
288.Xr ssh 1 .
289.It Fl R Ar num_requests
290Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
291Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed
292but will increase memory usage.
293The default is 64 outstanding requests.
294.It Fl r
295Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and downloading.
296Note that
297.Nm
298does not follow symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.
299.It Fl S Ar program
300Name of the
301.Ar program
302to use for the encrypted connection.
303The program must understand
304.Xr ssh 1
305options.
306.It Fl s Ar subsystem | sftp_server
307Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server
308on the remote host.
309A path is useful when the remote
310.Xr sshd 8
311does not have an sftp subsystem configured.
312.It Fl v
313Raise logging level.
314This option is also passed to ssh.
315.El
316.Sh INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
317Once in interactive mode,
318.Nm
319understands a set of commands similar to those of
320.Xr ftp 1 .
321Commands are case insensitive.
322Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes.
323Any special characters contained within pathnames that are recognized by
324.Xr glob 3
325must be escaped with backslashes
326.Pq Sq \e .
327.Bl -tag -width Ds
328.It Ic bye
329Quit
330.Nm sftp .
331.It Ic cd Op Ar path
332Change remote directory to
333.Ar path .
334If
335.Ar path
336is not specified, then change directory to the one the session started in.
337.It Xo Ic chgrp
338.Op Fl h
339.Ar grp
340.Ar path
341.Xc
342Change group of file
343.Ar path
344to
345.Ar grp .
346If the
347.Fl h
348flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
349.Ar path
350may contain
351.Xr glob 7
352characters and may match multiple files.
353.Ar grp
354must be a numeric GID.
355.It Xo Ic chmod
356.Op Fl h
357.Ar mode
358.Ar path
359.Xc
360Change permissions of file
361.Ar path
362to
363.Ar mode .
364If the
365.Fl h
366flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
367.Ar path
368may contain
369.Xr glob 7
370characters and may match multiple files.
371.It Xo Ic chown
372.Op Fl h
373.Ar own
374.Ar path
375.Xc
376Change owner of file
377.Ar path
378to
379.Ar own .
380If the
381.Fl h
382flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
383.Ar path
384may contain
385.Xr glob 7
386characters and may match multiple files.
387.Ar own
388must be a numeric UID.
389.It Xo Ic df
390.Op Fl hi
391.Op Ar path
392.Xc
393Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current directory
394(or
395.Ar path
396if specified).
397If the
398.Fl h
399flag is specified, the capacity information will be displayed using
400"human-readable" suffixes.
401The
402.Fl i
403flag requests display of inode information in addition to capacity information.
404This command is only supported on servers that implement the
405.Dq statvfs@openssh.com
406extension.
407.It Ic exit
408Quit
409.Nm sftp .
410.It Xo Ic get
411.Op Fl afpR
412.Ar remote-path
413.Op Ar local-path
414.Xc
415Retrieve the
416.Ar remote-path
417and store it on the local machine.
418If the local
419path name is not specified, it is given the same name it has on the
420remote machine.
421.Ar remote-path
422may contain
423.Xr glob 7
424characters and may match multiple files.
425If it does and
426.Ar local-path
427is specified, then
428.Ar local-path
429must specify a directory.
430.Pp
431If the
432.Fl a
433flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial transfers of existing files.
434Note that resumption assumes that any partial copy of the local file matches
435the remote copy.
436If the remote file contents differ from the partial local copy then the
437resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
438.Pp
439If the
440.Fl f
441flag is specified, then
442.Xr fsync 2
443will be called after the file transfer has completed to flush the file
444to disk.
445.Pp
446If the
447.Fl p
448.\" undocumented redundant alias
449.\" or
450.\" .Fl P
451flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
452copied too.
453.Pp
454If the
455.Fl R
456.\" undocumented redundant alias
457.\" or
458.\" .Fl r
459flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
460Note that
461.Nm
462does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
463.It Ic help
464Display help text.
465.It Ic lcd Op Ar path
466Change local directory to
467.Ar path .
468If
469.Ar path
470is not specified, then change directory to the local user's home directory.
471.It Ic lls Op Ar ls-options Op Ar path
472Display local directory listing of either
473.Ar path
474or current directory if
475.Ar path
476is not specified.
477.Ar ls-options
478may contain any flags supported by the local system's
479.Xr ls 1
480command.
481.Ar path
482may contain
483.Xr glob 7
484characters and may match multiple files.
485.It Ic lmkdir Ar path
486Create local directory specified by
487.Ar path .
488.It Xo Ic ln
489.Op Fl s
490.Ar oldpath
491.Ar newpath
492.Xc
493Create a link from
494.Ar oldpath
495to
496.Ar newpath .
497If the
498.Fl s
499flag is specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise it is
500a hard link.
501.It Ic lpwd
502Print local working directory.
503.It Xo Ic ls
504.Op Fl 1afhlnrSt
505.Op Ar path
506.Xc
507Display a remote directory listing of either
508.Ar path
509or the current directory if
510.Ar path
511is not specified.
512.Ar path
513may contain
514.Xr glob 7
515characters and may match multiple files.
516.Pp
517The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of
518.Ic ls
519accordingly:
520.Bl -tag -width Ds
521.It Fl 1
522Produce single columnar output.
523.It Fl a
524List files beginning with a dot
525.Pq Sq \&. .
526.It Fl f
527Do not sort the listing.
528The default sort order is lexicographical.
529.It Fl h
530When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte,
531Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte, and Exabyte in order to reduce
532the number of digits to four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
533M=1048576, etc.).
534.It Fl l
535Display additional details including permissions
536and ownership information.
537.It Fl n
538Produce a long listing with user and group information presented
539numerically.
540.It Fl r
541Reverse the sort order of the listing.
542.It Fl S
543Sort the listing by file size.
544.It Fl t
545Sort the listing by last modification time.
546.El
547.It Ic lumask Ar umask
548Set local umask to
549.Ar umask .
550.It Ic mkdir Ar path
551Create remote directory specified by
552.Ar path .
553.It Ic progress
554Toggle display of progress meter.
555.It Xo Ic put
556.Op Fl afpR
557.Ar local-path
558.Op Ar remote-path
559.Xc
560Upload
561.Ar local-path
562and store it on the remote machine.
563If the remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it has
564on the local machine.
565.Ar local-path
566may contain
567.Xr glob 7
568characters and may match multiple files.
569If it does and
570.Ar remote-path
571is specified, then
572.Ar remote-path
573must specify a directory.
574.Pp
575If the
576.Fl a
577flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial
578transfers of existing files.
579Note that resumption assumes that any partial copy of the remote file
580matches the local copy.
581If the local file contents differ from the remote local copy then
582the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
583.Pp
584If the
585.Fl f
586flag is specified, then a request will be sent to the server to call
587.Xr fsync 2
588after the file has been transferred.
589Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
590the "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
591.Pp
592If the
593.Fl p
594.\" undocumented redundant alias
595.\" or
596.\" .Fl P
597flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
598copied too.
599.Pp
600If the
601.Fl R
602.\" undocumented redundant alias
603.\" or
604.\" .Fl r
605flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
606Note that
607.Nm
608does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
609.It Ic pwd
610Display remote working directory.
611.It Ic quit
612Quit
613.Nm sftp .
614.It Xo Ic reget
615.Op Fl fpR
616.Ar remote-path
617.Op Ar local-path
618.Xc
619Resume download of
620.Ar remote-path .
621Equivalent to
622.Ic get
623with the
624.Fl a
625flag set.
626.It Xo Ic reput
627.Op Fl fpR
628.Ar local-path
629.Op Ar remote-path
630.Xc
631Resume upload of
632.Ar local-path .
633Equivalent to
634.Ic put
635with the
636.Fl a
637flag set.
638.It Ic rename Ar oldpath newpath
639Rename remote file from
640.Ar oldpath
641to
642.Ar newpath .
643.It Ic rm Ar path
644Delete remote file specified by
645.Ar path .
646.It Ic rmdir Ar path
647Remove remote directory specified by
648.Ar path .
649.It Ic symlink Ar oldpath newpath
650Create a symbolic link from
651.Ar oldpath
652to
653.Ar newpath .
654.It Ic version
655Display the
656.Nm
657protocol version.
658.It Ic \&! Ns Ar command
659Execute
660.Ar command
661in local shell.
662.It Ic \&!
663Escape to local shell.
664.It Ic \&?
665Synonym for help.
666.El
667.Sh SEE ALSO
668.Xr ftp 1 ,
669.Xr ls 1 ,
670.Xr scp 1 ,
671.Xr ssh 1 ,
672.Xr ssh-add 1 ,
673.Xr ssh-keygen 1 ,
674.Xr ssh_config 5 ,
675.Xr glob 7 ,
676.Xr sftp-server 8 ,
677.Xr sshd 8
678.Rs
679.%A T. Ylonen
680.%A S. Lehtinen
681.%T "SSH File Transfer Protocol"
682.%N draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-00.txt
683.%D January 2001
684.%O work in progress material
685.Re
686