xref: /openbsd-src/usr.bin/ssh/sftp.1 (revision f1dd7b858388b4a23f4f67a4957ec5ff656ebbe8)
1.\" $OpenBSD: sftp.1,v 1.137 2021/02/12 03:49:09 djm Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 2001 Damien Miller.  All rights reserved.
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25.Dd $Mdocdate: February 12 2021 $
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 46AaCfNpqrv
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
108Allows forwarding of
109.Xr ssh-agent 1
110to the remote system.
111The default is not to forward an authentication agent.
112.It Fl a
113Attempt to continue interrupted transfers rather than overwriting
114existing partial or complete copies of files.
115If the partial contents differ from those being transferred,
116then the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
117.It Fl B Ar buffer_size
118Specify the size of the buffer that
119.Nm
120uses when transferring files.
121Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of higher
122memory consumption.
123The default is 32768 bytes.
124.It Fl b Ar batchfile
125Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input
126.Ar batchfile
127instead of
128.Em stdin .
129Since it lacks user interaction it should be used in conjunction with
130non-interactive authentication to obviate the need to enter a password
131at connection time (see
132.Xr sshd 8
133and
134.Xr ssh-keygen 1
135for details).
136.Pp
137A
138.Ar batchfile
139of
140.Sq \-
141may be used to indicate standard input.
142.Nm
143will abort if any of the following
144commands fail:
145.Ic get , put , reget , reput , rename , ln ,
146.Ic rm , mkdir , chdir , ls ,
147.Ic lchdir , chmod , chown ,
148.Ic chgrp , lpwd , df , symlink ,
149and
150.Ic lmkdir .
151.Pp
152Termination on error can be suppressed on a command by command basis by
153prefixing the command with a
154.Sq \-
155character (for example,
156.Ic -rm /tmp/blah* ) .
157Echo of the command may be suppressed by prefixing the command with a
158.Sq @
159character.
160These two prefixes may be combined in any order, for example
161.Ic -@ls /bsd .
162.It Fl C
163Enables compression (via ssh's
164.Fl C
165flag).
166.It Fl c Ar cipher
167Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfers.
168This option is directly passed to
169.Xr ssh 1 .
170.It Fl D Ar sftp_server_path
171Connect directly to a local sftp server
172(rather than via
173.Xr ssh 1 ) .
174This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
175.It Fl F Ar ssh_config
176Specifies an alternative
177per-user configuration file for
178.Xr ssh 1 .
179This option is directly passed to
180.Xr ssh 1 .
181.It Fl f
182Requests that files be flushed to disk immediately after transfer.
183When uploading files, this feature is only enabled if the server
184implements the "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
185.It Fl i Ar identity_file
186Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public key
187authentication is read.
188This option is directly passed to
189.Xr ssh 1 .
190.It Fl J Ar destination
191Connect to the target host by first making an
192.Nm
193connection to the jump host described by
194.Ar destination
195and then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate destination from
196there.
197Multiple jump hops may be specified separated by comma characters.
198This is a shortcut to specify a
199.Cm ProxyJump
200configuration directive.
201This option is directly passed to
202.Xr ssh 1 .
203.It Fl l Ar limit
204Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
205.It Fl N
206Disables quiet mode, e.g. to override the implicit quiet mode set by the
207.Fl b
208flag.
209.It Fl o Ar ssh_option
210Can be used to pass options to
211.Nm ssh
212in the format used in
213.Xr ssh_config 5 .
214This is useful for specifying options
215for which there is no separate
216.Nm sftp
217command-line flag.
218For example, to specify an alternate port use:
219.Ic sftp -oPort=24 .
220For full details of the options listed below, and their possible values, see
221.Xr ssh_config 5 .
222.Pp
223.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
224.It AddressFamily
225.It BatchMode
226.It BindAddress
227.It BindInterface
228.It CanonicalDomains
229.It CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
230.It CanonicalizeHostname
231.It CanonicalizeMaxDots
232.It CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
233.It CASignatureAlgorithms
234.It CertificateFile
235.It ChallengeResponseAuthentication
236.It CheckHostIP
237.It Ciphers
238.It Compression
239.It ConnectionAttempts
240.It ConnectTimeout
241.It ControlMaster
242.It ControlPath
243.It ControlPersist
244.It GlobalKnownHostsFile
245.It GSSAPIAuthentication
246.It GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
247.It HashKnownHosts
248.It Host
249.It HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
250.It HostbasedAuthentication
251.It HostKeyAlgorithms
252.It HostKeyAlias
253.It Hostname
254.It IdentitiesOnly
255.It IdentityAgent
256.It IdentityFile
257.It IPQoS
258.It KbdInteractiveAuthentication
259.It KbdInteractiveDevices
260.It KexAlgorithms
261.It KnownHostsCommand
262.It LogLevel
263.It MACs
264.It NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
265.It NumberOfPasswordPrompts
266.It PasswordAuthentication
267.It PKCS11Provider
268.It Port
269.It PreferredAuthentications
270.It ProxyCommand
271.It ProxyJump
272.It PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
273.It PubkeyAuthentication
274.It RekeyLimit
275.It SendEnv
276.It ServerAliveInterval
277.It ServerAliveCountMax
278.It SetEnv
279.It StrictHostKeyChecking
280.It TCPKeepAlive
281.It UpdateHostKeys
282.It User
283.It UserKnownHostsFile
284.It VerifyHostKeyDNS
285.El
286.It Fl P Ar port
287Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
288.It Fl p
289Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
290original files transferred.
291.It Fl q
292Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and
293diagnostic messages from
294.Xr ssh 1 .
295.It Fl R Ar num_requests
296Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one time.
297Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer speed
298but will increase memory usage.
299The default is 64 outstanding requests.
300.It Fl r
301Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and downloading.
302Note that
303.Nm
304does not follow symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.
305.It Fl S Ar program
306Name of the
307.Ar program
308to use for the encrypted connection.
309The program must understand
310.Xr ssh 1
311options.
312.It Fl s Ar subsystem | sftp_server
313Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server
314on the remote host.
315A path is useful when the remote
316.Xr sshd 8
317does not have an sftp subsystem configured.
318.It Fl v
319Raise logging level.
320This option is also passed to ssh.
321.El
322.Sh INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
323Once in interactive mode,
324.Nm
325understands a set of commands similar to those of
326.Xr ftp 1 .
327Commands are case insensitive.
328Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes.
329Any special characters contained within pathnames that are recognized by
330.Xr glob 3
331must be escaped with backslashes
332.Pq Sq \e .
333.Bl -tag -width Ds
334.It Ic bye
335Quit
336.Nm sftp .
337.It Ic cd Op Ar path
338Change remote directory to
339.Ar path .
340If
341.Ar path
342is not specified, then change directory to the one the session started in.
343.It Xo Ic chgrp
344.Op Fl h
345.Ar grp
346.Ar path
347.Xc
348Change group of file
349.Ar path
350to
351.Ar grp .
352.Ar path
353may contain
354.Xr glob 7
355characters and may match multiple files.
356.Ar grp
357must be a numeric GID.
358.Pp
359If the
360.Fl h
361flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
362Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
363the "lsetstat@openssh.com" extension.
364.It Xo Ic chmod
365.Op Fl h
366.Ar mode
367.Ar path
368.Xc
369Change permissions of file
370.Ar path
371to
372.Ar mode .
373.Ar path
374may contain
375.Xr glob 7
376characters and may match multiple files.
377.Pp
378If the
379.Fl h
380flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
381Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
382the "lsetstat@openssh.com" extension.
383.It Xo Ic chown
384.Op Fl h
385.Ar own
386.Ar path
387.Xc
388Change owner of file
389.Ar path
390to
391.Ar own .
392.Ar path
393may contain
394.Xr glob 7
395characters and may match multiple files.
396.Ar own
397must be a numeric UID.
398.Pp
399If the
400.Fl h
401flag is specified, then symlinks will not be followed.
402Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
403the "lsetstat@openssh.com" extension.
404.It Xo Ic df
405.Op Fl hi
406.Op Ar path
407.Xc
408Display usage information for the filesystem holding the current directory
409(or
410.Ar path
411if specified).
412If the
413.Fl h
414flag is specified, the capacity information will be displayed using
415"human-readable" suffixes.
416The
417.Fl i
418flag requests display of inode information in addition to capacity information.
419This command is only supported on servers that implement the
420.Dq statvfs@openssh.com
421extension.
422.It Ic exit
423Quit
424.Nm sftp .
425.It Xo Ic get
426.Op Fl afpR
427.Ar remote-path
428.Op Ar local-path
429.Xc
430Retrieve the
431.Ar remote-path
432and store it on the local machine.
433If the local
434path name is not specified, it is given the same name it has on the
435remote machine.
436.Ar remote-path
437may contain
438.Xr glob 7
439characters and may match multiple files.
440If it does and
441.Ar local-path
442is specified, then
443.Ar local-path
444must specify a directory.
445.Pp
446If the
447.Fl a
448flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial transfers of existing files.
449Note that resumption assumes that any partial copy of the local file matches
450the remote copy.
451If the remote file contents differ from the partial local copy then the
452resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
453.Pp
454If the
455.Fl f
456flag is specified, then
457.Xr fsync 2
458will be called after the file transfer has completed to flush the file
459to disk.
460.Pp
461If the
462.Fl p
463.\" undocumented redundant alias
464.\" or
465.\" .Fl P
466flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
467copied too.
468.Pp
469If the
470.Fl R
471.\" undocumented redundant alias
472.\" or
473.\" .Fl r
474flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
475Note that
476.Nm
477does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
478.It Ic help
479Display help text.
480.It Ic lcd Op Ar path
481Change local directory to
482.Ar path .
483If
484.Ar path
485is not specified, then change directory to the local user's home directory.
486.It Ic lls Op Ar ls-options Op Ar path
487Display local directory listing of either
488.Ar path
489or current directory if
490.Ar path
491is not specified.
492.Ar ls-options
493may contain any flags supported by the local system's
494.Xr ls 1
495command.
496.Ar path
497may contain
498.Xr glob 7
499characters and may match multiple files.
500.It Ic lmkdir Ar path
501Create local directory specified by
502.Ar path .
503.It Xo Ic ln
504.Op Fl s
505.Ar oldpath
506.Ar newpath
507.Xc
508Create a link from
509.Ar oldpath
510to
511.Ar newpath .
512If the
513.Fl s
514flag is specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise it is
515a hard link.
516.It Ic lpwd
517Print local working directory.
518.It Xo Ic ls
519.Op Fl 1afhlnrSt
520.Op Ar path
521.Xc
522Display a remote directory listing of either
523.Ar path
524or the current directory if
525.Ar path
526is not specified.
527.Ar path
528may contain
529.Xr glob 7
530characters and may match multiple files.
531.Pp
532The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour of
533.Ic ls
534accordingly:
535.Bl -tag -width Ds
536.It Fl 1
537Produce single columnar output.
538.It Fl a
539List files beginning with a dot
540.Pq Sq \&. .
541.It Fl f
542Do not sort the listing.
543The default sort order is lexicographical.
544.It Fl h
545When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte,
546Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte, and Exabyte in order to reduce
547the number of digits to four or fewer using powers of 2 for sizes (K=1024,
548M=1048576, etc.).
549.It Fl l
550Display additional details including permissions
551and ownership information.
552.It Fl n
553Produce a long listing with user and group information presented
554numerically.
555.It Fl r
556Reverse the sort order of the listing.
557.It Fl S
558Sort the listing by file size.
559.It Fl t
560Sort the listing by last modification time.
561.El
562.It Ic lumask Ar umask
563Set local umask to
564.Ar umask .
565.It Ic mkdir Ar path
566Create remote directory specified by
567.Ar path .
568.It Ic progress
569Toggle display of progress meter.
570.It Xo Ic put
571.Op Fl afpR
572.Ar local-path
573.Op Ar remote-path
574.Xc
575Upload
576.Ar local-path
577and store it on the remote machine.
578If the remote path name is not specified, it is given the same name it has
579on the local machine.
580.Ar local-path
581may contain
582.Xr glob 7
583characters and may match multiple files.
584If it does and
585.Ar remote-path
586is specified, then
587.Ar remote-path
588must specify a directory.
589.Pp
590If the
591.Fl a
592flag is specified, then attempt to resume partial
593transfers of existing files.
594Note that resumption assumes that any partial copy of the remote file
595matches the local copy.
596If the local file contents differ from the remote local copy then
597the resultant file is likely to be corrupt.
598.Pp
599If the
600.Fl f
601flag is specified, then a request will be sent to the server to call
602.Xr fsync 2
603after the file has been transferred.
604Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
605the "fsync@openssh.com" extension.
606.Pp
607If the
608.Fl p
609.\" undocumented redundant alias
610.\" or
611.\" .Fl P
612flag is specified, then full file permissions and access times are
613copied too.
614.Pp
615If the
616.Fl R
617.\" undocumented redundant alias
618.\" or
619.\" .Fl r
620flag is specified then directories will be copied recursively.
621Note that
622.Nm
623does not follow symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
624.It Ic pwd
625Display remote working directory.
626.It Ic quit
627Quit
628.Nm sftp .
629.It Xo Ic reget
630.Op Fl fpR
631.Ar remote-path
632.Op Ar local-path
633.Xc
634Resume download of
635.Ar remote-path .
636Equivalent to
637.Ic get
638with the
639.Fl a
640flag set.
641.It Xo Ic reput
642.Op Fl fpR
643.Ar local-path
644.Op Ar remote-path
645.Xc
646Resume upload of
647.Ar local-path .
648Equivalent to
649.Ic put
650with the
651.Fl a
652flag set.
653.It Ic rename Ar oldpath newpath
654Rename remote file from
655.Ar oldpath
656to
657.Ar newpath .
658.It Ic rm Ar path
659Delete remote file specified by
660.Ar path .
661.It Ic rmdir Ar path
662Remove remote directory specified by
663.Ar path .
664.It Ic symlink Ar oldpath newpath
665Create a symbolic link from
666.Ar oldpath
667to
668.Ar newpath .
669.It Ic version
670Display the
671.Nm
672protocol version.
673.It Ic \&! Ns Ar command
674Execute
675.Ar command
676in local shell.
677.It Ic \&!
678Escape to local shell.
679.It Ic \&?
680Synonym for help.
681.El
682.Sh SEE ALSO
683.Xr ftp 1 ,
684.Xr ls 1 ,
685.Xr scp 1 ,
686.Xr ssh 1 ,
687.Xr ssh-add 1 ,
688.Xr ssh-keygen 1 ,
689.Xr ssh_config 5 ,
690.Xr glob 7 ,
691.Xr sftp-server 8 ,
692.Xr sshd 8
693.Rs
694.%A T. Ylonen
695.%A S. Lehtinen
696.%T "SSH File Transfer Protocol"
697.%N draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-00.txt
698.%D January 2001
699.%O work in progress material
700.Re
701