How to upload one file by FTP from command line?

Question

I need to upload a single file to FTP server from Ubuntu. This operation should be done in a script (in non-interactive mode). What is the right syntax for ftp?

I'm trying this, to no avail:

$ ftp -u ftp://user:secret@ftp.example.com my-local-file.txt
ftp: Invalid URL `ftp://'

I don't know much about the `ftp` tool in Ubuntu, but it looks like it's choking on the `ftp://`. try taking that out maybe? — Nate Koppenhaver, Aug 15 '11 at 04:15
Similar: [Syncronizing files over FTP](http://superuser.com/q/33856/87805), but for multiple files. — kenorb, Apr 15 '15 at 19:04

Marty · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-15T05:13:17.920

234

Here is one approach:

$ ftp -n <<EOF
open ftp.example.com
user user secret
put my-local-file.txt
EOF

Alternatively, create (or edit) the ~/.netrc file in the home dir of the user that will run the ftp command, give it appropriate perms (chmod 0600 ~/.netrc), and add the following:

# ~/.netrc
machine ftp.example.com
login user
password secret

Then omit the login information, as in:

$ echo put my-local-file.txt | ftp ftp.example.com

Also, here's how you might do the same thing using curl:

$ curl -T my-local-file.txt ftp://ftp.example.com --user user:secret

edited Aug 15 '11 at 05:13

answered Aug 15 '11 at 04:39

Marty

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FYI: I've noticed that I can't pass a full path of the file using the `put` raw command but I can with `curl`. – Hengjie Jan 14 '13 at 21:55
2

+1 for the curl. Neat, clean and straight to the point! In Debian/Ubuntu "apt-get install curl", if you don't have it. – GTodorov Mar 06 '16 at 18:57
5

the `curl` solution is the best and the easiest – Mar 28 '16 at 16:40
1

FWIW: I tried this with a large file (162MB). At first I thought curl looked slow (~25mins), but I found that the ftp command took just as long. curl looks good if available, and has nice feedback showing Time Left etc. – xtempore May 05 '16 at 03:58
1

ftp.example.com:port for connection that require that. – SkorpEN Jun 13 '17 at 11:36
A variant of this syntax is: `$ curl -T my-local-file.txt ftp://user:secret@ftp.example.com` – ViperGeek Aug 10 '17 at 22:17
1

For those who are going to use `curl` it is important to put your password inside single quotes `'` if it contain special characters. otherwise you will end up with `curl: (67) Access denied: 530` – Eng7 Feb 11 '20 at 12:37
3

For uploads to a specific folder put a slash after the folder name: `ftp://ftp.example.com/myFolder/` otherwise youl'll get "Failed FTP upload: 553" – Pino Jun 03 '20 at 13:17
Will this leave the password in the bash history? Can I prevent that? – Xanlantos Feb 03 '21 at 11:09
1

@Xanlantos yes. You can just leave out the password and you will be prompted for the password by curl. – riQQ Feb 22 '22 at 23:37
The long version of the `-T` parameter, for those not wishing to peruse curl's enormous man page, is `--upload-file` and specifies the local file to upload (nothing more). – Chris Mar 15 '23 at 06:34

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '15 at 15:52

24

I can recommend ftp-upload. It's a neat little tool that you can install under ubuntu through sudo apt-get install ftp-upload.

Usage example:

ftp-upload -h {HOST} -u {USERNAME} --password {PASSWORD} -d {SERVER_DIRECTORY} {FILE_TO_UPLOAD}

answered Jan 27 '15 at 15:52

Floris

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Can you provide a link to the tool or its documentation? – bwDraco Jan 27 '15 at 16:11
1

Hi DragonLord, if you are in Ubuntu and you have installed ftp-upload (using the command I gave before) you can just do `man ftp-upload`. Hope that helps. – Floris Feb 03 '15 at 18:01
Will this leave the password in the bash history? Can I prevent that? – Xanlantos Feb 03 '21 at 11:09
@Xanlantos yes unfortunately it will leave the password in the bash history. I think there are ways around it I found through Google (but I don't recall exactly). – Floris Feb 05 '21 at 20:51

Paul · Answer 3 · 2011-12-12T19:11:24.933

6

You need to fix the URL given in your statement. You received the error because the URL was incomplete - it was missing the name of the object you are uploading. Once you add the filename after 'example.com' as I have done below, you will see the single command does indeed work as you intended.

Try this:

ftp -u ftp://user:secret@ftp.example.com/my-local-file.txt my-local-file.txt

edited Dec 12 '11 at 19:11

answered Dec 02 '11 at 19:59

Paul

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ftp: invalid option -- 'u' – Babken Vardanyan Aug 01 '14 at 17:06
2

Indeed :( ftp: u: unknown option – webDEVILopers Oct 28 '14 at 10:24
ftp: u: unknown option – Morten Nov 08 '18 at 11:45
perhaps it's version dependant, like `nc -e` flag. my `ftp` command has the `-u` and following this format, it worked nicely! – João Ciocca Oct 28 '22 at 22:05
Ah I just figured one thing out: this is because my `ftp` command is, actually, `tnftp`. You may want to check what FTP client you're actually using, since they'll have different capabilities! – João Ciocca Nov 15 '22 at 16:10

divinedragon · Answer 4 · 2021-02-04T15:43:24.263

6

You can also try lftp.

Here is an example:

lftp -e 'cd folder1/folder2; put /home/path/yourfile.tar; bye' -u user,password ftp.theserver.com

Refer here for more details and also refer to LFTP Manual

.

edited Feb 04 '21 at 15:43

answered Jan 10 '13 at 09:06

divinedragon

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9

To use it with non unix name I found this: `NN="'non unix.file'" ; lftp -e "cd folder; put $NN; bye" -u anonymous, ftp.theserver.com` – schweik Jan 17 '20 at 08:22
1

Will this leave the password in the bash history? Can I prevent that? – Xanlantos Feb 03 '21 at 11:09
1

With the example above yes, it will be in the history. You can use the `--env-password` flag and have the password configured in `LFTP_PASSWORD` environment variable. Refer to the man pages of [LFTP](https://lftp.yar.ru/lftp-man.html) – divinedragon Feb 04 '21 at 15:41

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 27 '13 at 10:53

5

Install ncftp and use the ncftpput tool that comes along with it, pretty much something like this syntax:

ncftpput -u ftpuser -p ftppass ftphostname /path/where/to/upload localfile.name
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Upload failed"; fi

You can even check if the upload status is good or bad. The normal ftp client can also be used along with expect.

edited Nov 27 '13 at 10:53

Community

1

answered Aug 15 '11 at 04:37

O G

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Shal · Answer 6 · 2015-04-29T09:16:12.230

2

Upload a file to a remote location via command line

#!/bin/bash
#$1 is the file name
#usage:this_script <filename>
HOST='yourhost'
USER="youruser"
PASSWD="pass"
FILE="abc.php"
REMOTEPATH='/html'

ftp -n $HOST <<END_SCRIPT
quote USER $USER
quote PASS $PASSWD
cd $REMOTEPATH
put $FILE 
quit
END_SCRIPT
exit 0

edited Apr 29 '15 at 09:16

answered Apr 29 '15 at 07:48

Shal

121
2

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 08 '21 at 11:36

Use the put command after connecting to the FTP server with ftp (it is interactive, btw).

put local-file [remote-file]
             Store a local file on the remote machine.  If remote-file is left unspecified, the local file name is used after processing according to any ntrans or nmap settings in
             naming the remote file.  File transfer uses the current settings for type, format, mode, and structure.

Example login:

~ $ ftp 127.0.0.1
Connected to 127.0.0.1.
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [privsep] ----------
220-You are user number 1 of 25 allowed.
220-Local time is now 10:47. Server port: 21.
220-This is a private system - No anonymous login
220-IPv6 connections are also welcome on this server.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Name (127.0.0.1:user1): user2
331 User user2 OK. Password required
Password:
230 OK. Current restricted directory is /
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.

Example copy (login required before it):

ftp> put index.html
local: index.html remote: index.html
200 PORT command successful
150 Connecting to port 43791
226-File successfully transferred
226 0.003 seconds (measured here), 3.96 Mbytes per second
10701 bytes sent in 0.00 secs (34.4773 MB/s)

Example logout (login required before it)

ftp> quit
221-Goodbye. You uploaded 11 and downloaded 0 kbytes.
221 Logout.
~ $

score 1 · Answer 8 · edited Mar 24 '16 at 04:17

1

I use BusyBox's ftpput to do this:

# /bin/busybox ftpput

BusyBox v1.20.2 (Debian 1:1.20.0-7) multi-call binary.

Usage: ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE

Upload a file to a FTP server

    -v,--verbose            Verbose
    -u,--username USER      Username
    -p,--password PASS      Password
    -P,--port NUM           Port

Note: busybox ftpget work well too.

edited Mar 24 '16 at 04:17

Spotlight

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answered Feb 16 '15 at 17:47

Naskel

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 31 '17 at 02:59

i improved Marty answer like below (include binary):

[ftp_example_1.sh]

$ ftp_example_sh.sh dump_file

ftp -n <<EOF
open 192.168.0.10
user anonymous aaa
binary
put $1
EOF

[ftp_example_2.sh]

$ftp_example_2.sh 192.168.0.10 dump_file

ftp -n <<EOF
open $1
user anonymous aaa
binary
put $2
EOF

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 16 '22 at 18:14

0

With curl:

curl -T $file -u "$user:$pass" ftp://xxxxx.xxx[:$port]/server/path [--ftp-ssl] [-k]

Between braces are optionals

answered Sep 16 '22 at 18:14

Evandro Jr

101
2

Welcome to Super User! Before answering an old question having an accepted answer (look for green ✓) as well as other answers ensure your answer adds something new or is otherwise helpful in relation to them. Here is a guide on [answer]. There is also a site [tour] and a [help]. – help-info.de Sep 16 '22 at 18:49

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 16 '15 at 19:37

0

You could also use the sftp or ftp command

sftp {user}@{IP}
Password:
put {path To File On Local Computer}

answered Feb 16 '15 at 19:37

iProgram

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8
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score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Aug 25 '17 at 18:06

-1

FtpPut(){
    echo `echo -e "open host\nuser user pass\nbinary\nput $1\nquit"|ftp -nv`
}
FtpPut asd.txt
FtpPut asd.mp4
FtpPut asd.php
...

answered Aug 25 '17 at 18:06

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How to upload one file by FTP from command line?

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