The sftp utility is an interactive file transfer program with a user interface similar to ftp(1) that uses the ssh(1) command to create a secure connection to the server.

sftp implements the SSH File Transfer Protocol as defined in IETF draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer. There is no relationship between the protocol used by sftp and the FTP protocol (RFC959) provided by ftp(1).

The following options are supported:

-C

Enables compression, using the -C flag in ssh(1).

-o ssh_option

Specifies an option to be directly passed to ssh(1).

-v

Raises logging level. This option is also passed to ssh(1).

The following operands are supported:

hostname | user@hostname

The name of the host to which sftp connects and logs into.

Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive and pathnames may be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces.

cd path

Changes remote directory to path.

lcd path

Changes local directory to path.

chgrp grp path

Changes group of file path to grp. grp must be a numeric GID.

chmod mode path

Changes permissions of file path to mode.

chown own path

Changes owner of file path to own. own must be a numeric UID.

help

Displays help text.

get [flags] remote-path [local-path]

Retrieves the remote-path and stores 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. If the -P flag is specified, then the file's full permission and access time are copied too.

lls [ls-options [path]]

Displays local directory listing of either path or current directory if path is not specified.

lmkdir path

Creates local directory specified by path.

lpwd

Prints local working directory.

ls [path]

Displays remote directory listing of either path or current directory if path is not specified.

lumask umask

Sets local umask to umask.

mkdir path

Creates remote directory specified by path.

put [flags] local-path [local-path]

Uploads local-path and stores 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. If the -P flag is specified, then the file's full permission and access time are copied too.

pwd

Displays remote working directory.

exit

Quits sftp.

quit

Quits sftp.

rename oldpath newpath

Renames remote file from oldpath to newpath.

rmdir path

Removes remote directory specified by path.

rm path

Deletes remote file specified by path.

! command

Executes command in local shell.

!

Escapes to local shell.

?

Synonym for help.

The following exit values are returned:

0

Successful completion.

1

An error occurred.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ftp(1), scp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(1M), attributes(5)

To view license terms, attribution, and copyright for OpenSSH, the default path is /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWsshdr/install/copyright. If the Solaris operating environment has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the given path to access the file at the installed location.

Damien Miller