Linux sftp copy files

10 single line SFTP commands to transfer files in Unix/Linux

SFTP stands for secure file transfer program similar to ftp. The only difference is that Unix or Linux SFTP command performs all operations over an encrypted SSH transport. It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and compression.

I have already written another article with the steps to setup SFTP server with passwordless login using authorized_keys in Unix and Linux. So I will use the same SFTP server to demonstrate single line SFTP commands to transfer files and directory from local to remote and remote to local server.

Some more articles on related topic to transfer files and folders between two servers:

Lab Environment

SFTP Server:
Hostname : sftp-server
IP Address : 192.168.43.83

SFTP Client:
Hostname : sftp-client
IP Address : 192.168.43.82

1. Copy file from remote server to local machine windows

We can use connect to our SFTP Server from Windows machine using any SFTP Client such as WinSCP, FileZilla etc. The SFTP syntax for destination may be specified either as [user@]host[:path] or as a URI in the form

I will use WinSCP on my Windows Laptop to connect to our Linux SFTP Server. Provide the IP Address and other User credential to login to SFTP server using WinSCP

Once connected you can now copy file from remote server to local machine windows or vice versa.

Assuming the user deepak has enough privilege you should be able to copy file from remote server to local machine windows or vice versa.

2. Single line SFTP get command to download file from remote to local server

Use below SFTP syntax to download file from remote to local server using SFTP get command.

sftp [user]@host[:port][/dest_path/file] [/local_path]

I have dest_dir folder on sftp-server on which I will create a new file ( sftp-server_file ) and then we will download this file on sftp-client using SFTP get command.

[root@sftp-server dest_dir]# pwd /opt/sftp-jails/deepak/dest_dir [root@sftp-server dest_dir]# touch sftp-server_file

Connect to sftp-server using sftp-client and download sftp-server_file to /tmp on sftp-client using SFTP get command.

[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp deepak@sftp-server:dest_dir/sftp-server_file /tmp/ Connected to sftp-server. Fetching /dest_dir/sftp-server_file to /tmp/sftp-server_file

Since I had configured passwordless sftp, we did not got any SFTP command line password prompt

3. Single line SFTP put command to upload file from local to remote server

Use below SFTP syntax with to upload file from local to remote server using SFTP put command.

sftp [user]@host[:port][/dest_path] 
I will create a file sftp-client_file under /tmp on sftp-client
[root@sftp-client ~]# touch /tmp/sftp-client_file
 
Upload /tmp/sftp-client_file to sftp-server using single line SFTP put command
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp deepak@sftp-server:dest_dir/ put /tmp/sftp-client_file Uploading /tmp/sftp-client_file to /dest_dir/sftp-client_file /tmp/sftp-client_file
 
As you see the one line SFTP command line file upload was successful and since we are using SFTP authorized_keys, we did not got any SFTP command line password prompt
 
4. Single line SFTP commands to download directory from remote to local server
 
We will use the same SFTP syntax as we used for SFTP get command to download file from remote to local server with an additional SFTP argument
 
sftp -r [user]@host[:port][/dest_path] [/local_path]
 
I have created sftp-server_dir on sftp-server
 
[root@sftp-server dest_dir]# pwd /opt/sftp-jails/deepak/dest_dir [root@sftp-server dest_dir]# mkdir sftp-server_dir
 
Next we will use single line SFTP get command line to download directory from remote to local server under /tmp
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -r deepak@sftp-server:dest_dir/sftp-server_dir /tmp/ Connected to sftp-server. Fetching /dest_dir/sftp-server_dir/ to /tmp/sftp-server_dir Retrieving /dest_dir/sftp-server_dir
 
As you see the single line SFTP command line to download directory from remote to local server was successful and since we are SFTP authorized_keys, we did not got any SFTP command line password prompt.
 
Verify the directory on sftp-client we just downloaded under /tmp using SFTP command:
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# ls -ld /tmp/sftp-server_dir/ drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Apr 2 17:42 /tmp/sftp-server_dir/
 
Where does SFTP download to?
 
In the above SFTP usage example we had explicitly provided the path to download files and directory. By default the local directory under which you have executed SFTP will be the "local path" where SFTP will by default download the files to if you have not given any source directory.
 
SFTP Usage Example:
 
Below SFTP usage example will clear your doubt on "where does sftp download to"
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp deepak@sftp-server Connected to deepak@sftp-server.  sftp> cd exchange/  sftp> get file1  Fetching /exchange/file1 to file1  sftp> get file1 /tmp/  Fetching /exchange/file1 to /tmp/file1 sftp> lcd /home/rahul/  sftp> get file1  Fetching /exchange/file1 to file1 sftp> lmkdir test_dir  sftp> mkdir sftp-server_dir  sftp> ls -l  -rw------- 1 deepak 1003 800 Mar 31 17:20 checksum_datababse.out -rw-r--r-- 1 deepak 1003 0 Apr 2 16:10 file1 -rw-r--r-- 1 deepak 1003 0 Apr 2 16:10 file2 -rw-r--r-- 1 deepak 1003 0 Apr 2 16:08 file6 -rw-r--r-- 1 deepak 1003 0 Apr 2 16:08 file7 -rw------- 1 deepak 1003 24 Mar 31 17:20 hello.txt drwx------ 2 deepak 1003 4096 Apr 3 17:27 sftp-server_dir -rw------- 1 deepak 1003 59 Mar 31 17:20 upload_dir.ba sftp> lpwd  Local working directory: /home sftp> pwd  Remote working directory: /exchange sftp> df -h  Size Used Avail (root) %Capacity 13.3GB 6.3GB 6.3GB 7.0GB 47% sftp> exit
 
We have used below commands in this SFTP usage example:
 
lcd -> To change directory on local seever i.e. SFTP Client lpwd -> List present working directory on local server i.e. SFTP Client lmkdir -> Create directory on local server i.e. SFTP Client cd -> Change directory on remote server i.e. SFTP Server get -> Download file from remote to local server i.e. SFTP Server ls -> List files and directories on remote server i.e. SFTP Server pwd -> Print present working directory on remote server i.e. SFTP Server df -> Print disk usage for destination directory on remote server i.e. SFTP Server
 
5. SFTP commands to upload directory from local to remote server
 
I could not find a single line SFTP put command to upload directory from local to remote server, if you come across any such one liner SFTP put command do let me know via comment section
 
I have used an alternate approach to combine all the SFTP commands by using EOF tag.
 
While trying to upload directory from local to remote server it is important that the directory name which you plan to upload, a directory with the same name also must exist on your SFTP server. For example I have mydir on sftp-client , before I attempt to transfer I also have to create " mydir " on sftp-server before I attempt the upload from local to remote server.
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp deepak@sftp-server cd dest_dir > mkdir sftp-client_dir > put -r /tmp/sftp-client_dir  > quit > EOF Connected to deepak@sftp-server. sftp> cd dest_dir sftp> mkdir sftp-client_dir sftp> put -r /tmp/sftp-client_dir Uploading /tmp/sftp-client_dir/ to /dest_dir/sftp-client_dir Entering /tmp/sftp-client_dir/ sftp> quit
 
It is possible you may get " Couldn't canonicalize: No such file or directory; Unable to canonicalize path XXX ". This means that the directory does not exist on SFTP server which you are planning to upload. Using SFTP CLI this is a pre-requisite to have a directory already exist with the same name before uploading directory.
 
sftp> put -r /tmp/sftp-client_dir sftp-client_dir Uploading /tmp/sftp-client_dir/ to /sftp-client_dir Couldn't canonicalize: No such file or directory Unable to canonicalize path "/sftp-client_dir"
 
6. SFTP commands to transfer file using batch file
 
You can automate SFTP file transfer in Unix and Linux using batch file. I have explained more about batch file in another article so I will not cover this part again. use the below SFTP Syntax to use batch file and automate file transfers
 
I have created below SFTP batch file to upload directory ( sftp-client_dir ) from local to remote server.
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# cat upload_dir.ba cd dest_dir mkdir sftp-client_dir put -r /tmp/sftp-client_dir quit
 
This batch file will create sftp-client_dir on sftp-server and then upload directory sftp-client_sir from sftp-client to the SFTP server.
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -b upload_dir.ba deepak@sftp-server sftp> cd dest_dir sftp> mkdir sftp-client_dir sftp> put -r /tmp/sftp-client_dir Entering /tmp/sftp-client_dir/ sftp> quit
 
Verify if the sftp-client_dir was successfully uploaded to sftp-server . Since we have configured SFTP authorized_keys to perform passwordless sftp, did not got any SFTP command line password prompt
 
[root@sftp-server dest_dir]# ls -l total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 deepak deepak 4096 Mar 31 20:14 sftp-client_dir
 
7. Single line SFTP commands to remove directory on remote server
 
The SFTP syntax to remove directory on sftp-server using one liner SFTP command line is same as we used to upload file from local to remote server
 
Using the below one liner SFTP rmdir command we will remove sftp-client_dir on sftp-server . Since this directory is under exchange folder of sftp-server hence I have provided this path while connecting to sftp-server .
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp deepak@sftp-server:exchange/ rmdir sftp-client_dir
 
We have successfully removed sftp-client_dir from our sftp-server which was inside exchange folder. Since we have configured SFTP authorized_keys to perform passwordless sftp, did not got any SFTP command line password prompt
 
8. Transfer files with SFTP commands using ssh_config
 
You can create a config file with SSH Client configuration values which will be used by SFTP command to transfer files. Use below SFTP syntax to use ssh_config
 
I have created below ssh config files with some values which will be used by our sftp-client
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# cat /tmp/ssh_config AddressFamily inet ConnectionAttempts 10 ForwardAgent no ForwardX11 no ForwardX11Trusted no GatewayPorts no HostBasedAuthentication no PubkeyAuthentication yes HostKeyAlias sftp-alias PasswordAuthentication no Compression yes ServerAliveCountMax 3 ServerAliveInterval 15 TCPKeepAlive no User deepak
 
We will use this ssh_config file with SFTP command line in combination with -F argument as shown below
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -F /tmp/ssh_config sftp-server Connected to sftp-server. sftp> exit
 
You can combine this with batch file which I used in above SFTP usage examples to automate SFTP transfer files between local and remote servers. Since we have configured SFTP authorized_keys to perform passwordless sftp, did not got any SFTP command line password prompt.
 
9. Use SSH options with SFTP single commands
 
If you do not wish to create additional SSH config file then you can also pass those arguments using -o argument with SFTP command. Use below SFTP syntax:
 
sftp [-o -o -o ..] [user]@server:[port]
 
I have used some of the SSH client options in the below SFTP usage example to use Public Key Authentication with our SFTP.
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -o "PubkeyAuthentication=yes" -o "PasswordAuthentication=no" -o "PreferredAuthentications=publickey" -o "StrictHostKeyChecking=no" -o User=deepak sftp-server Connected to sftp-server. sftp> exit
 
Since we have configured SFTP authorized_keys to perform passwordless sftp, we did not got any SFTP command line password prompt
 
10. Use different Port with SFTP Commands to transfer files
 
By default SFTP uses the same port as SSH i.e. 22. But you can also configure SSH and SFTP to use a different port by using Port= in /etc/ssh/sshd_config on SFTP server. In this SFTP usage example I have setup SFTP to use port 2200 instead of port 22.
 
We can connect using a custom SFTP port using -o Port= as shown below
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -o Port=2200 -o User=deepak sftp-server Connected to sftp-server. sftp> exit
 
or alternatively we can also use SFTP argument -P to define a custom port for SFTP connection.
 
[root@sftp-client ~]# sftp -P 2200 -o User=deepak sftp-server Connected to sftp-server. sftp> exit
 
Lastly I hope the SFTP usage examples from the article to use one liner SFTP commands in Unix and Linux to transfer files was helpful. So, let me know your suggestions and feedback using the comment section.
 
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