Copy remote files to local with Python's Paramiko

copy_remote_files.py

import os
import posixpath
import logging
import paramiko
from pathlib import Path
from typing import List

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def transfer_files_via_sftp(
    host: str,
    port: int,
    username: str,
    password: str,
    files: List[str],
    remote_path: str,
    local_path: str
) -> None:
    """
    Transfer files from a remote server to a local directory via SFTP.
    This function connects to an SSH server using the provided credentials, opens an SFTP session,
    and downloads the specified files from the remote directory to the local directory.
    
    :param host: The hostname or IP address of the SSH server.
    :param port: The port number to connect to (default is 22).
    :param username: The username for authentication.
    :param password: The password for authentication.
    :param files: A list of filenames to transfer.
    :param remote_path: The remote directory containing the files.
    :param local_path: The local directory to store the downloaded files.
    :return: None
    """
    ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()
    try:
        # Security: Verify host keys against system known hosts
        ssh.load_system_host_keys()
        ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.RejectPolicy())

        logger.info("Connecting to %s:%d as %s", host, port, username)
        ssh.connect(hostname=host, port=port, username=username, password=password)

        sftp = ssh.open_sftp()
        logger.info("SFTP session established")

        local_dir = Path(local_path)
        try:
            local_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
        except PermissionError as e:
            logger.error("Permission denied creating local directory: %s", str(e))
            return

        for file in files:
            file_remote = posixpath.join(remote_path, file)  # Use POSIX paths for remote
            file_local = local_dir / file

            try:
                logger.info("Transferring: %s >>> %s", file_remote, file_local)
                sftp.get(file_remote, str(file_local))
                logger.info("Successfully transferred: %s", file)
            except FileNotFoundError:
                logger.error("File not found on remote: %s", file_remote)
            except PermissionError:
                logger.error("Permission denied writing local file: %s", file_local)
            except Exception as e:
                logger.error("Failed to transfer %s: %s", file, str(e))

        sftp.close()
        logger.info("SFTP session closed")

    except paramiko.AuthenticationException:
        logger.error("Authentication failed, please check your credentials")
    except paramiko.SSHException as e:
        logger.error("SSH error: %s", str(e))
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error("Unexpected error: %s", str(e))
    finally:
        ssh.close()
        logger.info("SSH connection closed")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Configuration
    HOST: str = 'localhost'  # Replace with actual host
    PORT: int = 22
    USERNAME: str = 'user'  # Replace with actual username
    PASSWORD: str = 'password'  # Replace with actual password

    REMOTE_FILES_PATH: str = '/remote_path/files/'  # Replace with actual remote path
    LOCAL_PATH: str = '/tmp/'  # Replace with actual local path
    FILES: List[str] = ['file1', 'file2', 'file3', 'file4']  # Replace with actual file names

    transfer_files_via_sftp(HOST, PORT, USERNAME, PASSWORD, FILES, REMOTE_FILES_PATH, LOCAL_PATH)

Hi! I ran this in Python 3.4. Got the following error:

line 20, in <module>
   for file in file:
NameError: name 'file' is not defined

Hi,
It's due to a typo, replace this line
for file in file:
by
for file in files:
and it should work.

Regard,

Hello,
I tried to run the script on windows but there are several errors.
Could you give me the changes to make the script work on windows.
Best regards.

My SSH requires password. How could the code be updated to support login to a SSH server with password?

My SSH requires password. How could the code be updated to support login to a SSH server with password?

ssh.connect(hostname=host, port=port, username=username,password='Your password')

I did the same thing as you except username ,host and password but i am not able to copy the files

Works Perfect! Thank you so much for sharing.

how to fetch latest or oldest ones using paramiko/SFTP client library? pls share code samples for that. I am traversing directories, and at any given path, have to fetch file that arrived earliest.

Hi! I ran this in Python 3.4. Got the following error:

line 20, in <module>
   for file in file:
NameError: name 'file' is not defined

Did you even read the error? I died inside a bit by your laziness.

My SSH requires password. How could the code be updated to support login to a SSH server with password?

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=paramiko+documentation+ssh+password

Hi All,

Any script to copy files from local to remote system using Python's Paramiko

how to put directory to a remote location

How to download multiple files with like option(*) ?

abc.I*.today's date.input

wrong print command

Hey,
Thanks for this code, wanted to copy any file which start with some specific string, for example my sftp has serval projects files and all projects files are saved as project_number and some file name and extension, I want to loop all the files of same project number, can you please guide?