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lftp Scriptable file transfer

Version 4.9.3 · source

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Start here

lftp -u <user> <host>
Connect and log in
ls
List the remote directory
cd <dir>
Change remote directory
get <file>
Download a file
put <file>
Upload a file
mirror <dir>
Download a whole tree
mirror -R <dir>
Upload a whole tree
exit
Close the session

Concepts

  1. Local dir lcd, lpwd
  2. lftp shell queue, jobs, set
  3. Remote site ftp, ftps, sftp, http

Connect

lftp <host>
Open a session
lftp -u <user>,<pass> <host>
Connect with credentials
lftp sftp://<user>@<host>
Connect over SFTP
open -u <user> -p <port> <host>
Connect from inside the shell
lftp -e "<cmd>" <host>
Run a command after connecting
lftp -c "<cmds>"
Run commands and exit
Separate commands with ;, && or ||.
lftp -f <script>
Run a script file and exit
user <user> [<pass>]
Set login for later use
close -a
Close idle connections
lftp --norc
Skip rc files at startup
ls
List remote directory (cached)
cd <dir>
Change remote directory
cd - returns to the previous directory.
lcd <dir>
Change local directory
pwd
Print remote location
lpwd
Print local directory
cls -l -h
Formatted long listing, sizes human-readable
cls --sort=size -S
Sort listing by size
find <dir>
Recursive listing
nlist
Names only
cache flush
Drop the listing cache
!<cmd>
Run a local shell command

Transfer

get <file>
Download a file
put <file>
Upload a file
get <file> -o <local>
Download under another name
get -c <file>
Resume a download
put -c <file>
Resume an upload
mget <glob>
Download files by wildcard
mput <glob>
Upload files by wildcard
mget -d <glob>
Download keeping directory names
get -O <dir> <file>
Download into a local base directory
get -P <n> <files>
Fetch n files in parallel
pget -n <n> <file>
Download over n connections
Loads the server heavily; the server may limit connections.
pget -c <file>
Resume a pget download
get -E <file>
Delete the source after success
cat <file>
Print a remote file
edit <file>
Edit a remote file in place

Mirror

mirror <rdir> [<ldir>]
Download a directory tree
mirror -R <ldir> [<rdir>]
Upload a directory tree
mirror --dry-run <rdir>
Preview without changing anything
mirror -c <rdir>
Continue interrupted transfers
mirror -n <rdir>
Only get newer files
Does not combine with -c.
mirror -e <rdir>
Delete files missing at the source
Dry-run first: this deletes at the destination.
mirror -P <n> <rdir>
Run n transfers in parallel
mirror -v <rdir>
Print each file handled
mirror -x <regex> <rdir>
Exclude by regex
mirror -X <glob> <rdir>
Exclude by glob
mirror -I <glob> <rdir>
Include only matching globs
mirror --only-missing <rdir>
Only fetch files not present locally
mirror --use-pget-n=<n> <rdir>
Split each file over n connections
mirror -L <rdir>
Treat symlinks as files
mirror --Remove-source-files <rdir>
Move: delete source after transfer
mirror --loop --on-change="<cmd>" <rdir>
Rerun until something changes

Remote files

mkdir -p <dir>
Create directory with parents
rm <file>
Remove a file (no wildcards)
rm -r <dir>
Remove a directory recursively
mrm <glob>
Remove files by wildcard
mv <old> <new>
Rename or move
rmdir <dir>
Remove an empty directory
chmod <mode> <file>
Change permissions
du -sh <dir>
Show directory size
ln -s <target> <link>
Create a symlink

Jobs and queue

<command> &
Run a command in the background
jobs -v
List running jobs
wait [<job>]
Wait for a job
kill <job> / kill all
Stop jobs
queue <command>
Add a command to the queue
Do not queue cd or lcd.
queue stop / queue start
Pause or resume the queue
queue -d <index>
Delete a queue entry
queue -m <index> <pos>
Reorder queue entries
repeat -d <secs> <command>
Repeat a command at an interval
at <time> -- <command>
Run a command later
exit bg
Leave, finish jobs in the background

Settings and bookmarks

set -a
List all settings
set <name> <value>
Change a setting
set <name>/<host> <value>
Setting for one host only
set net:limit-rate <down>:<up>
Limit bandwidth
Bytes per second; suffixes like 100K work.
set ssl:verify-certificate no
Skip certificate verification
Only for hosts you trust; lftp verifies by default.
set ftp:passive-mode on
Use passive FTP mode
set sftp:connect-program "ssh -a -x -i <key>"
Choose SSH key for SFTP
set mirror:parallel-directories on
Mirror several dirs at once
set xfer:clobber on
Overwrite existing local files
bookmark add <name>
Save the current site
bookmark list
Show bookmarks
open <name>
Connect to a bookmark
source <file>
Run commands from a file
~/.lftp/rc
Per-user startup commands (set ...)

Recipes

Mirror a site safely
lftp -u <user> sftp://<host>mirror --dry-run -R ./site /var/www/sitemirror -R -P 4 ./site /var/www/site
One-shot script from cron
lftp -c "open -u <user>,<pass> <host>; mirror -n -P 2 /pub ./pub; bye"
Upload only changed files, skip junk
mirror -R -n -x '\.git/' -X '*.tmp' ./out /public
Persistent rc settings
# ~/.lftp/rcset ssl:verify-certificate yesset net:limit-rate 0:500Kset mirror:parallel-transfer-count 3