Command Reference

Scripting and shell commands are described in the table below. Abbreviations for commands are noted in the command description.

Where the command has optional arguments, they are shown in square brackets, e.g. open [host[:port]] means that for the open command, the host and port are optional parameters (but if the port is supplied, the host must be supplied).
Command
Description


help [command]
Prints out help for a specific command, or if no command is specified, a list of supported commands is provided.



version
Prints out version details.

Can use ver as an abbreviation.



debug
Switches debug on or off. If debug is already on, it is switched off (and vice versa). When debug is enabled, more information is displayed when commands are executed.



set
Sets various parameters used during the session, many of which are optional. Syntax is set name=value

Note that 'set' can be omitted, and thus protocol=ftp is a valid command.

Variables can be created this way. If an unknown variable is set using the 'set' command, then a variable of that name and value is created, e.g. myprotocol=ftp creates a variable called 'myprotocol' set to the string value 'ftp'.

The value of variables can be printed out using echo.

The value of all set variables can be printed out using set without any arguments.

The set command also supports a feature originally found on Unix systems called backquoting. This is where a variable is assigned the value of the output of a command, which must be surrounded by back quotes (the '`' symbol).

For example, to set the variable 'currendir' to the value of the current remote working directory, use set currentdir=`pwd`.



set protocol
Set the protocol to be used. Note that the protocol cannot be changed while connected. Supported protocols are shown below:
Protocol
Description
ftp "Plain" FTP protocol
ftps FTPS, i.e. FTP over SSL (explicit mode)
ftpse FTPS, i.e. FTP over SSL (explicit mode)
ftpsi FTPS, i.e. FTP over SSL (implicit mode). 
sftp SFTP, i.e. FTP over SSH

Note that server validation is not yet supported for any secure protocol, and the only form of client validation supported is username/password. Future versions will support client and server validation.

set connectmode
Sets the connection mode for data transfers and listings. Not applicable for SFTP protocol. Possible values are active or passive., e.g. set connectmode=active.

set remotehost
Sets the remote host to be connected to, e.g. set remotehost=ftp.gnu.org

set user
Sets the username, e.g. set user=javaftp

set password
Sets the user's password, e.g. set password=javaftp

set timeout
Optional. Sets the timeout in seconds for read or write operations (and for the initial connection attempt for JRE 1.4 and greater). The default is 0 (which is an infinite timeout). e.g. set timeout=10

set port
Optional. Defaults are determined by the protocol. Sets the port number to connect to, e.g. set port=21

set loglevel
Optional. Sets the logging level. 0 means no logging, while 5 is the maximum log level (the default). e.g. set loglevel=4

set logfile
Sets the name or full path of the logfile to direct logging to, e.g. set logfile=C:\temp\ftp.log

set tlsdebug
Sets the level of SSL/TLS debugging. Different levels display different portions of TLS debugging information. The possible levels are 0,1,2,4,8,16,32,64,256,65535. Use 65535 to get all possible debugging output for SSL/TLS processing (warning - there is a lot).

set cryptodebug
Sets debugging of cryptographic code on or off, e.g. set cryptodebug=true

echo
Echos the value of a variable to standard output, whether user-defined or a system variable such as 'protocol'. The variable must be preceded by a '$' to identify it as a variable, e.g. echo $protocol.

A synonym for echo is print.


open [host[:port]]
Opens the connection to the remote server. The user and password must already be set via the set command. If the remote host is not already set, it must be supplied here (and will override any previous setting for this connection attempt). The port number can also be optionally supplied (but the host must be provided). e.g. open edtmobile:21


binary
Change the current transfer mode to binary mode. Binary is the default.

Can use bin as an abbreviation.



ascii
Change the current transfer mode to ASCII mode. Binary is the default.

Can use asc as an abbreviation. 

pwd
Print the current remote working directory.


dir [remotedir]
Perform a detailed listing of the current directory if no directory is supplied as an argument, or of the supplied remote directory.

See ls for a similar command. A synomyn of dir is ls -l.

ls [remotedir]
Perform a simple listing (just filenames) of the current directory if no directory is supplied as an argument, or of the supplied remote directory. If ls -l is used, a detailed listing is supplied.

See dir for a similar command. A synomyn of ls -l is dir.

cd remotedir
Change the current remote working directory to remotedir.

cdup
Change the current remote working directory to its parent directory.

mkdir remotedir
Create the remotedir directory.

rmdir remotedir
Delete the remotedir directory. It must be empty.



get remotefile [localfile]
Download a remotefile to the local host.  The localfile parameter can be a filename or the full path of a local file. If it is a filename, the current local working directory is prepended.

Note that the localfile parameter is optional - if not supplied, the downloaded file is saved in the current local working directory with the name of remotefile.

The remotefile parameter can be a filename or a path. Not all servers support the use of a path - in this case navigate to the correct remote directory using cd.


put localfile [remotefile]
Upload a local file to the remote host. The localfile parameter can be a filename or the full path of a local file. If it is a filename, the current local working directory is prepended.

The remotefile parameter should be a filename or a path. Not all servers support the use of a path - in this case navigate to the correct remote directory using cd.

If the remotefile parameter is not supplied, the local file name will be used.



append localfile [remotefile]
Append the contents of a local file to a remote file (if it exists) on the remote host. The localfile parameter can be a filename or the full path of a local file. If it is a filename, the current local working directory is prepended.

The remotefile parameter should be a filename or a path. Not all servers support the use of a path - in this case navigate to the correct remote directory using cd.

If the remotefile parameter is not supplied, the local file name will be used.


rename remotefile1 remotefile2
Rename a remote file from remotefile1 to remotefile2.  Note that both parameters should be filenames, not full paths.

Can use ren as an abbreviation. 

delete remotefile
Delete a remote file in the current remote working directory.

Can use del as an abbreviation.


mdelete wildcard
Delete multiple remote files that match the wildcard in the current remote working directory.

Wildcards supported are '?' for a single matching character, and '*' for multiple matching characters. e.g. to delete all text files in the current remote directory, use mdel *.txt

Can use mdel as an abbreviation.


mput wildcard
Upload multiple local files that match the wildcard in the current local working directory to the current remote working directory.

Wildcards supported are '?' for a single matching character, and '*' for multiple matching characters. e.g. to upload all text files from the current local working directory, use mput *.txt

mget wildcard
Download multiple local files that match the wildcard in the current remote working directory to the current local working directory.

Wildcards supported are '?' for a single matching character, and '*' for multiple matching characters. e.g. to download all text files from the current remote working directory use mget *.txt

close
Closes the connection to the remote server.

Can also use bye, quit, exit or disconnect.



auth
Change from unencrypted 'plain' FTP into secure FTP.

Supported options are ssl, tls, or tls-c. e.g. auth tls


protect
Change the protection level of the data channel.

Supported options are clear (or c) to set data channels to unencrypted, and private (or p) to set data channels to encrypted. e.g. protect clear

Alternatively private has the same effect as protect private, and clear has the same effect as protect clear.

An abbreviation for protect is prot, which combined with the argument abbreviations means that to set the data channels to unencrypted could be done with prot c, and to set to encrypted could be done with prot p.


private
Change the protection level of the data channel to private. Identical to protect private.

clear
Change the protection level of the data channel to clear. Identical to protect clear.


ccc
Clears the control channel, setting it back to plain unencrypted text. This can be useful when using firewalls, which need to be able to inspect the control channel to open data channel ports.

Once ccc has been called, no more protect commands can be used. This is a security measure inherent in the protocol.