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14.4.3. Using the sftp Utility
The
sftp utility can be used to open a secure, interactive FTP session. In its design, it is similar to ftp except that it uses a secure, encrypted connection.
To connect to a remote system, use a command in the following form:
sftp username@hostname
For example, to log in to a remote machine named
penguin.example.com with john as a user name, type:
~]$ sftp john@penguin.example.com
john@penguin.example.com's password:
Connected to penguin.example.com.
sftp>
After you enter the correct password, you will be presented with a prompt. The
sftp utility accepts a set of commands similar to those used by ftp (see Table 14.3, “A selection of available sftp commands”).
Table 14.3. A selection of available sftp commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ls [directory] | List the content of a remote directory. If none is supplied, a current working directory is used by default. |
cd directory | Change the remote working directory to directory. |
mkdir directory | Create a remote directory. |
rmdir path | Remove a remote directory. |
put localfile [remotefile] | Transfer localfile to a remote machine. |
get remotefile [localfile] | Transfer remotefile from a remote machine. |
For a complete list of available commands, see the
sftp(1) manual page.

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