LFTP Cheatsheet #lftp #cheatsheet #commandlinefu

lftp_cheatsheet.md

LFTP Cheatsheet

Courtesy of LFTP Cheatcheet.

Upload a File

lftp -e 'put /local/path/yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Like all FTP clients, LFTP correctly uses Passive mode by default. Passive is newer than Active. It was designed to solve the problems with Active, and will go through the greatest array of firewalls without incident. [Never use Active.]

Connection Timeout

LFTP will keep trying forever I believe, so it's wise to specify a timeout, especially if you are scripting this. In this example, timeout is 10 seconds:

lftp -e 'set net:timeout 10; put /local/path/yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Active Mode

For what it's worth, Active mode -- older, stinkier, and won't go through your firewall:

lftp -e 'set ftp:passive-mode false; set net:timeout 10; put /local/path/yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Download

Uses Binary mode by default:

lftp -e 'set net:timeout 10; get yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

If you need to put it in a specific local directory:

lftp -e 'set net:timeout 10; get yourfile.mp4 -o /local/path/yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Mirroring

Recursive Upload

When using the mirror command, LFTP is recursive by default.

Mirror everything from the /local/path to the root of the remote FTP site, including all subdirectories and their files. The -R switch means "reverse mirror" which means "put" [upload]. Remote path is simply /, the root.

lftp -e 'mirror -R /local/path/ /' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Recursive Download

To mirror remote to local, just omit the -R param and swap remote path with local. Be careful with this. Don't overwrite your local changes.

lftp -e 'mirror / /local/path/' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Regular-Expression-Match Upload

Only include certain file types. Mirror everything in the /local/path recursively, but only transfer files that end with .htm, .html, .css, and .js.

lftp -e 'mirror -R -i "\.(html?|css|js)$" /local/path/ /' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Non-Recursive

Deploy only root-level files, not the entire directory tree. The -r switch disables recursion. In this example, we are also only deploying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript:

lftp -e 'mirror -R -r -i "\.(html?|css|js)$" /local/path/ /' -u user,password ftp.foo.com

Special Characters in Username or Password

Special characters in your username or password must be escaped with backslashes:

lftp -e 'put /local/path/yourfile.mp4; bye' -u user,password\!\! ftp.foo.com

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Links

• LFTP Cheatcheet (archive.org)