FTP can be used to exchange files between machines for which
you have accounts, or between your account and other internet
'host' accounts. Some computers have anonymous accounts set up.
These act as a common repository usually allowing public access.
The login name is anonymous and the password (usually
your userid) is not checked but is required.
For example, to log onto your local account and make a connection
with the remote machine, type the following
ftp beta.math.wsu.edu
It is possible to start ftp from your own computer without connecting
to another, simply by typing ftp. If you start ftp this
way, then in order to connect to a remote machine you must type
o address, where address is the machines Internet address.
The 'o' stands for 'open connection'.
Once you are connected to the remote machine, to show a listing
of its files and directories, type ls.
To change to a subdirectory on the remote machine use the cd
command.
cd 'newdirectory'
To get a copy of a file located on a remote machine use the get
command. For example, to transfer the file foo.bear from the
remote machine to your home machine, where it will be called foo.bar,
type
get foo.bear foo.bar
The default mode of file transfer is ascii. That means that if
you try to transfer an executable code or a compressed file, it
will not work. To get a copy of a binary or executable file located
on the remote machine, binary mode must be used. The following
pair of commands, typed in sequence, will transfer the binary
file foo.bin to your home machine using the same name.
binary
get foo.bin
You may also get several files at once, but to do so you must
give up the option of renaming them on your home machine. The
mget command allows you to get several files at once.
In order to transfer files from your home machine to the remote
machine, you use the put command. Put has a
similar syntax to that of get: type put 'local file'
'remote file'. You may omit the name of the remote file
if you do not need to rename the file. For example, the following
command places the file foo.bear on the remote machine
under the same name.
put foo.bear
There is an mput command with similar syntax to mget.
To obtain further information, use help and or refer
to manuals.Used with no argument, help gives a list of
valid commands. If used with an argument, it gives a description
of the command.
Terminate your ftp session with the quit command.
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