File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

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Sample FTP Session:

At prompt enter: ftp slate (Slate is your remote or target node)

Username: username (You are prompted to supply your username on the remote node.)
(or)
Name: slate:username (If your local node is smart enough to know your username just press return.)

Password: password (Type your password.)

ftp> binary (Use this if there are unprintable (non-ascii) characters in your files.)

ftp> prompt (This will disable the question, "Do you want this file?" [You] for each individual file on an "mget" or "mput" command. "Prompt" is a toggle; a second "prompt" will turn prompting back on.)

ftp> mget *.for (Moves all files with the extension .for in the current directory on the remote node to the local node.)

ftp> put bike.dat (Takes one file with the name bike.dat in the current directory of the local node and places it on the remote node.)

ftp> bye (Terminate ftp and log out of the remote node.)

Ftp commands most likely to be useful:

help - read this first

binary - sets the file transfer type to binary

bye - ends an ftp session and returns you to the local node

cd - changes your current directory on the remote node

lcd - changes your current directory on the locall node

dir - gives you a directory listing on a VMS remote node

get - copies a file to your local node from the remote node

ls - gives you a directory on a remote Unix node

mget - copies multiple files from remote node to local node

mput - copies multiple files from local note to remote node

put - copies a file to remote node

The most common mistake is omitting the binary command. For ftp transfers involving a PC, the local node is usually the PC. There are some operating systems for which there is no version of TCP/IP. Not all versions of ftp implement the same commands. You must be connected to the ethernet, or running IP protocol if using a modem! If you need specific information pertaining to the use of ftp on a PC, refer to the guide titled “File Transfers To and From the PC Using FTP.”

Use the ASCII transfer mode when you are moving ASCII text documents but not text processor files (e.g., WordPerfect). The ASCII mode will handle the conversion of files between operating systems with different text conventions (e.g., Macintosh, DOS, MS Windows, Unix).