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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | INTERACTIVE COMMANDS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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SFTP(1) General Commands Manual SFTP(1)
sftp — OpenSSH secure file transfer
sftp [-46AaCfNpqrv] [-B buffer_size] [-b batchfile] [-c cipher]
[-D sftp_server_command] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file] [-J
destination] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-R
num_requests] [-S program] [-s subsystem | sftp_server] [-X
sftp_option] destination
sftp is a file transfer program, similar to ftp(1), which performs
all operations over an encrypted ssh(1) transport. It may also
use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and
compression.
The destination may be specified either as [user@]host[:path] or
as a URI in the form sftp://[user@]host[:port][/path].
If the destination includes a path and it is not a directory, sftp
will retrieve files automatically if a non-interactive
authentication method is used; otherwise it will do so after
successful interactive authentication.
If no path is specified, or if the path is a directory, sftp will
log in to the specified host and enter interactive command mode,
changing to the remote directory if one was specified. An
optional trailing slash can be used to force the path to be
interpreted as a directory.
Since the destination formats use colon characters to delimit host
names from path names or port numbers, IPv6 addresses must be
enclosed in square brackets to avoid ambiguity.
The options are as follows:
-4 Forces sftp to use IPv4 addresses only.
-6 Forces sftp to use IPv6 addresses only.
-A Allows forwarding of ssh-agent(1) to the remote system.
The default is not to forward an authentication agent.
-a Attempt to continue interrupted transfers rather than
overwriting existing partial or complete copies of files.
If the partial contents differ from those being
transferred, then the resultant file is likely to be
corrupt.
-B buffer_size
Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when
transferring files. Larger buffers require fewer round
trips at the cost of higher memory consumption. The
default is 32768 bytes.
-b batchfile
Batch mode reads a series of commands from an input
batchfile instead of stdin. Since it lacks user
interaction, it should be used in conjunction with non-
interactive authentication to obviate the need to enter a
password at connection time (see sshd(8) and ssh-keygen(1)
for details).
A batchfile of ‘-’ may be used to indicate standard input.
sftp will abort if any of the following commands fail:
get, put, reget, reput, rename, ln, rm, mkdir, chdir, ls,
lchdir, copy, cp, chmod, chown, chgrp, lpwd, df, symlink,
and lmkdir.
Termination on error can be suppressed on a command by
command basis by prefixing the command with a ‘-’
character (for example, -rm /tmp/blah*). Echo of the
command may be suppressed by prefixing the command with a
‘@’ character. These two prefixes may be combined in any
order, for example -@ls /bsd.
-C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag).
-c cipher
Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data
transfers. This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
-D sftp_server_command
Connect directly to a local sftp server (rather than via
ssh(1)). A command and arguments may be specified, for
example "/path/sftp-server -el debug3". This option may
be useful in debugging the client and server.
-F ssh_config
Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for
ssh(1). This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
-f Requests that files be flushed to disk immediately after
transfer. When uploading files, this feature is only
enabled if the server implements the "[email protected]"
extension.
-i identity_file
Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for
public key authentication is read. This option is
directly passed to ssh(1).
-J destination
Connect to the target host by first making an sftp
connection to the jump host described by destination and
then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate
destination from there. Multiple jump hops may be
specified separated by comma characters. This is a
shortcut to specify a ProxyJump configuration directive.
This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
-l limit
Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
-N Disables quiet mode, e.g. to override the implicit quiet
mode set by the -b flag.
-o ssh_option
Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for
which there is no separate sftp command-line flag. For
example, to specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24.
For full details of the options listed below, and their
possible values, see ssh_config(5).
AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
BindInterface
CanonicalDomains
CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
CanonicalizeHostname
CanonicalizeMaxDots
CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
CASignatureAlgorithms
CertificateFile
CheckHostIP
Ciphers
Compression
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
ControlPersist
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
Hostname
IdentitiesOnly
IdentityAgent
IdentityFile
IPQoS
KbdInteractiveAuthentication
KbdInteractiveDevices
KexAlgorithms
KnownHostsCommand
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
PKCS11Provider
Port
PreferredAuthentications
ProxyCommand
ProxyJump
PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RequiredRSASize
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
SetEnv
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UpdateHostKeys
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS
-P port
Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.
-p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from
the original files transferred.
-q Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning
and diagnostic messages from ssh(1).
-R num_requests
Specify how many requests may be outstanding at any one
time. Increasing this may slightly improve file transfer
speed but will increase memory usage. The default is 64
outstanding requests.
-r Recursively copy entire directories when uploading and
downloading. Note that sftp does not follow symbolic
links encountered in the tree traversal.
-S program
Name of the program to use for the encrypted connection.
The program must understand ssh(1) options.
-s subsystem | sftp_server
Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp
server on the remote host. A path is useful when the
remote sshd(8) does not have an sftp subsystem configured.
-v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
-X sftp_option
Specify an option that controls aspects of SFTP protocol
behaviour. The valid options are:
nrequests=value
Controls how many concurrent SFTP read or write
requests may be in progress at any point in time
during a download or upload. By default 64
requests may be active concurrently.
buffer=value
Controls the maximum buffer size for a single SFTP
read/write operation used during download or
upload. By default a 32KB buffer is used.
Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands
similar to those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive.
Pathnames that contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes. Any
special characters contained within pathnames that are recognized
by glob(3) must be escaped with backslashes (‘\’).
bye Quit sftp.
cd [path]
Change remote directory to path. If path is not
specified, then change directory to the one the session
started in.
chgrp [-h] grp path
Change group of file path to grp. path may contain
glob(7) characters and may match multiple files. grp must
be a numeric GID.
If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
followed. Note that this is only supported by servers
that implement the "[email protected]" extension.
chmod [-h] mode path
Change permissions of file path to mode. path may contain
glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.
If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
followed. Note that this is only supported by servers
that implement the "[email protected]" extension.
chown [-h] own path
Change owner of file path to own. path may contain
glob(7) characters and may match multiple files. own must
be a numeric UID.
If the -h flag is specified, then symlinks will not be
followed. Note that this is only supported by servers
that implement the "[email protected]" extension.
copy oldpath newpath
Copy remote file from oldpath to newpath.
Note that this is only supported by servers that implement
the "copy-data" extension.
cp oldpath newpath
Alias to copy command.
df [-hi] [path]
Display usage information for the filesystem holding the
current directory (or path if specified). If the -h flag
is specified, the capacity information will be displayed
using "human-readable" suffixes. The -i flag requests
display of inode information in addition to capacity
information. This command is only supported on servers
that implement the “[email protected]” extension.
exit Quit sftp.
get [-afpR] remote-path [local-path]
Retrieve the remote-path and store it on the local
machine. If the local path name is not specified, it is
given the same name it has on the remote machine.
remote-path may contain glob(7) characters and may match
multiple files. If it does and local-path is specified,
then local-path must specify a directory.
If the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume
partial transfers of existing files. Note that resumption
assumes that any partial copy of the local file matches
the remote copy. If the remote file contents differ from
the partial local copy then the resultant file is likely
to be corrupt.
If the -f flag is specified, then fsync(2) will be called
after the file transfer has completed to flush the file to
disk.
If the -p flag is specified, then full file permissions
and access times are copied too.
If the -R flag is specified then directories will be
copied recursively. Note that sftp does not follow
symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
help Display help text.
lcd [path]
Change local directory to path. If path is not specified,
then change directory to the local user's home directory.
lls [ls-options [path]]
Display local directory listing of either path or current
directory if path is not specified. ls-options may
contain any flags supported by the local system's ls(1)
command. path may contain glob(7) characters and may
match multiple files.
lmkdir path
Create local directory specified by path.
ln [-s] oldpath newpath
Create a link from oldpath to newpath. If the -s flag is
specified the created link is a symbolic link, otherwise
it is a hard link.
lpwd Print local working directory.
ls [-1afhlnrSt] [path]
Display a remote directory listing of either path or the
current directory if path is not specified. path may
contain glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.
The following flags are recognized and alter the behaviour
of ls accordingly:
-1 Produce single columnar output.
-a List files beginning with a dot (‘.’).
-f Do not sort the listing. The default sort order
is lexicographical.
-h When used with a long format option, use unit
suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte,
Terabyte, Petabyte, and Exabyte in order to reduce
the number of digits to four or fewer using powers
of 2 for sizes (K=1024, M=1048576, etc.).
-l Display additional details including permissions
and ownership information.
-n Produce a long listing with user and group
information presented numerically.
-r Reverse the sort order of the listing.
-S Sort the listing by file size.
-t Sort the listing by last modification time.
lumask umask
Set local umask to umask.
mkdir path
Create remote directory specified by path.
progress
Toggle display of progress meter.
put [-afpR] local-path [remote-path]
Upload local-path and store it on the remote machine. If
the remote path name is not specified, it is given the
same name it has on the local machine. local-path may
contain glob(7) characters and may match multiple files.
If it does and remote-path is specified, then remote-path
must specify a directory.
If the -a flag is specified, then attempt to resume
partial transfers of existing files. Note that resumption
assumes that any partial copy of the remote file matches
the local copy. If the local file contents differ from
the remote local copy then the resultant file is likely to
be corrupt.
If the -f flag is specified, then a request will be sent
to the server to call fsync(2) after the file has been
transferred. Note that this is only supported by servers
that implement the "[email protected]" extension.
If the -p flag is specified, then full file permissions
and access times are copied too.
If the -R flag is specified then directories will be
copied recursively. Note that sftp does not follow
symbolic links when performing recursive transfers.
pwd Display remote working directory.
quit Quit sftp.
reget [-fpR] remote-path [local-path]
Resume download of remote-path. Equivalent to get with
the -a flag set.
reput [-fpR] local-path [remote-path]
Resume upload of local-path. Equivalent to put with the
-a flag set.
rename oldpath newpath
Rename remote file from oldpath to newpath.
rm path
Delete remote file specified by path.
rmdir path
Remove remote directory specified by path.
symlink oldpath newpath
Create a symbolic link from oldpath to newpath.
version
Display the sftp protocol version.
!command
Execute command in local shell.
! Escape to local shell.
? Synonym for help.
ftp(1), ls(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1),
ssh_config(5), glob(7), sftp-server(8), sshd(8) T. Ylonen and S.
Lehtinen, SSH File Transfer Protocol, draft-ietf-secsh-
filexfer-00.txt, January 2001, work in progress material.
This page is part of the openssh (Portable OpenSSH) project.
Information about the project can be found at
http://www.openssh.com/portable.html. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.openssh.com/report.html⟩.
This page was obtained from the tarball openssh-9.9p2.tar.gz
fetched from
⟨http://ftp.eu.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/OpenSSH/portable/⟩ on
2025-08-11. If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML
version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-
to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or
improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not
part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
GNU December 16, 2022 SFTP(1)
Pages that refer to this page: sshfs(1)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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