sftpg3

sftpg3 — Secure Shell file transfer client - Generation 3

Synopsis

sftpg3 [options...]
[ profile | [user@] host [#port] ]

Description

sftpg3 (sftpg3.exe on Windows) is an FTP-like client that can be used for secure file transfer over the network. sftpg3 launches ssh-broker-g3 to provide a secure transport using the Secure Shell version 2 protocol. ssh-broker-g3 will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication. sftpg3 uses the configuration specified in the ssh-broker-config.xml file.

When started interactively, sftpg3 displays a prompt where the SFTP commands can be entered. It is also possible to start sftpg3 non-interactively with a batch file that contains the commands to be run. For information on the available commands, see the section called “Commands”.

sftpg3 has two connection end points, local and remote, and both of them can be connected to other hosts than the SFTP client host. If started without arguments, the local end point is connected to the filesystem of the SFTP client host and the remote end point is unconnected. The connected host(s), with the exception of the SFTP client host, must be running a Secure Shell version 2 server with the sftp-server (or sft-server-g3) subsystem enabled. Tectia Server has sft-server-g3 enabled by default.

The remote connection end point can be given directly as an argument to the sftpg3 command or it can be given with the open SFTP command after sftpg3 has started. The local connection end point can be given with the lopen SFTP command.

When connecting, you can give either the name of a connection profile defined in the ssh-broker-config.xml file (profile) or the IP address or DNS name of the remote host, optionally with the remote username and the port of the Secure Shell server ( [user@] host [#port]). If no username is given, the local username is assumed. If no port is given, the default Secure Shell port 22 is assumed.

Note

When entering a connection profile in sftpg3, note that Tectia ConnectSecure deduces the meaning of the argument differently depending on its format. If there is an @ sign in the given attribute value, Tectia ConnectSecure always interprets it to be <username@hostname>, i.e. not a profile.

Also, if there are dots in a profile name (for example host.x.example.com, the dots need to be escaped on command line. On Unix, enter host\.x\.example\.com, instead. On Windows, enter host˜.x˜.example˜.com, instead. Otherwise the profile name is taken as a host name and the current local user name is used for logging in.

For information on special characters in filenames, see the section called “Filename Support”.

Options

The following options are available:

-b buffer_size_bytes

Defines the maximum buffer size for one read/write request (default: 32768 bytes).

-B [ - | batch_file ]

The -B - option enables reading from the standard input. This option is useful when you want to launch processes with sftpg3 and redirect the stdin pipes.

By defining the name of a batch_file as an attribute, you can execute SFTP commands from the given file in batch mode. The file can contain any allowed SFTP commands. For a description of the commands, see the section called “Commands”.

Using batch mode requires that you have previously saved the server host key on the client and set up a non-interactive method for user authentication (for example, host-based authentication or public-key authentication without a passphrase).

-C

Disables compression from the current connection.

+C

Enables zlib compression for this particular connection.

-c, --ciphers=LIST

Sets the allowed ciphers to be offered to the server. List the cipher names in a comma-separated list. For example:

--ciphers seed-cbc@ssh.com,aes256-cbc

Enter help as the value to view the currently supported cipher names.

-D, --debug=LEVEL

Sets the debug level. LEVEL is a number from 0 to 99, where 99 specifies that all debug information should be displayed. This should be the first argument on the command line.

	Note
	Option `-D` only applies on Unix. On Windows, instead of this command-line tool, use the Connection Broker debugging options `-D, -l`.

	Note
	The debug level can be set only when the sftpg3 command starts the Connection Broker. This option has no effect in the command if the Connection Broker is already running.

-i FILE

Defines that private keys defined in the identification file are used for public-key authentication.

-K, --identity-key-file=FILE

Defines that the given key file of a private key or certificate is used in user authentication. The path to the key file is given in the command.

If the file is a private key, it will be read and compared to the keys already known by the Connection Broker key store. If the key is not known, it will be decoded and added to the key store temporarily. If the file is a certificate and Connection Broker knows a matching private key, it will be used. Both the certificate and the private key can be given using multiple -K options on command line.

-N max_requests

Defines the maximum number of read/write requests sent in parallel (default: 10).

-P port

Connects to this Secure Shell port on the remote machine (default: 22).

-q, --quiet

Suppresses the printing of error, warning, and informational messages. This option overrides the quiet-mode setting made in the Connection Broker configuration file.

-v, --verbose

Uses verbose mode (equal to -D 2).

+w, --try-empty-password

Tries an empty password.

--allowed-authentications=METHODS

Defines the only allowed methods that can be used in user authentication. List the methods in a comma-separated list. Enter help as the value to view the currently supported authentication methods.

--compressions=METHODS

Sets the allowed compression methods to be offered to the server. List the methods in a comma-separated list.

Enter help as the value to view the currently supported compression methods.

--exclusive

Defines that a new connection will be opened for each connection attempt, otherwise Connection Broker can reuse recently closed connections.

--fips

Performs the checksums using the FIPS cryptographic library.

--identity=ID

Defines that the ID of the private key is used in user authentication. The ID can be Connection Broker-internal ordinary number of the key, the key hash or the key file name.

--identity-key-hash=ID

Defines the private key used in user authentication with the corresponding public key hash.

--identity-key-id=ID

Defines that the Connection Broker-internal ordinary number of the key is used in user authentication.

--keep-alive=VALUE

Defines how often keep-alive messages are sent to the Secure Shell server. Enter the value as seconds. The default value is 0, meaning that keep-alive messages are disabled.

--macs=LIST

Sets the allowed MACs to be offered to the server. List the MAC names in a comma-separated list. For example:

--macs hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5,hmac-md5-96

Enter help as the value to view the currently supported MAC names.

-u, --kexs=kexs

Sets the allowed key exchange (KEX) methods to be offered to the server. List the KEX names in a comma-separated list. For example:

--kexs diffie-hellman-group14-sha224@ssh.com,diffie-hellman-group14-sha256@ssh.com

Enter help as the value to view the currently supported KEX methods.

Due to issues in OpenSSL, the following KEXs cannot operate in the FIPS mode: diffie-hellman-group15-sha256@ssh.com and diffie-hellman-group15-sha384@ssh.com.

-j, --hostkey-algs=algs

Sets the allowed host key algorithms to be offered to the server. List the host key algorithms in a comma-separated list. For example:

--hostkey-algs ssh-dss-sha224@ssh.com,ssh-dss-sha256@ssh.com

Enter help as the value to view the currently supported host key algorithms.

--password= PASSWORD | file://PASSWORDFILE | extprog://PROGRAM

Sets the user password or passphrase that the client will send as a response to an authentication method requesting a password or passphrase (hereafter: password). This can be used also with password-protected certificates and public-keys.

The PASSWORD can be given directly as an argument to this option (not recommended). Better alternatives are entering a path to a file containing the password (--password=file://PASSWORDFILE), or entering a path to a program or script that outputs the password (--password=extprog://PROGRAM).

When using the extprog:// option to refer to a shell script, make sure the script also defines the user's shell, and outputs the actual password. Otherwise the executed program fails, because it does not know what shell to use for the shell script. For example, if the password string is defined in a file named my_password.txt, and you want to use the bash shell, include these lines in the script:

#!/usr/bash
cat /full/pathname/to/my_password.txt

	Caution
Supplying the password on the command line is not a secure option. For example, in a multi-user environment, the password given directly on the command line is trivial to recover from the process table. You should set up a more secure way to authenticate. For non-interactive batch jobs, it is more secure to use public-key authentication without a passphrase, or host-based authentication. At a minimum, use a file or a program to supply the password.

Caution

Supplying the password on the command line is not a secure option. For example, in a multi-user environment, the password given directly on the command line is trivial to recover from the process table. You should set up a more secure way to authenticate. For non-interactive batch jobs, it is more secure to use public-key authentication without a passphrase, or host-based authentication. At a minimum, use a file or a program to supply the password.

--plugin-path=PATH

Sets plugin path to PATH. This is only used in the FIPS mode.

--tcp-connect-timeout=VALUE

Defines a timeout period (in seconds) for establishing a TCP connection to the Secure Shell server. Enter a timeout value as a positive number. Value 0 (zero) disables this feature and the default system TCP timeout will be used, instead.

-V, --version

Displays program version and exits.

-h, --help

Displays a short summary of command-line options and exits.

Commands

When sftpg3 is ready to accept commands, it will display the prompt sftp>. The user can then enter any of the following commands:

! [command] [arguments]

Invokes an interactive shell on the local machine. if a command is given, it is used as the command to be executed. Optional arguments can be given depending on the command.

append [-u, --unlink-source] [--streaming] [--force-lower-case] [--statistics] [--summary-display] [--summary-format] [--progress-display] [--progress-line-format] [--progress-line-interval] srcfile [dstfile]

Appends the specified local file to the remote file. No globbing can be used.

Options:

-u, --unlink-source

Removes the source file after file transfer.

--streaming [ =yes | no | force | ext ]

Uses streaming in file transfer if the server supports it. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not transferred using streaming. Use force with small files. Default: yes

Use ext with z/OS hosts to enable direct MVS dataset access. Use this option only when the file transfer is mainly used for mainframe dataset transfers, as it can slow down the transfer of small files in other environments.

The --streaming=ext option requires also the --checksum=no option, because if checksums are calculated, the file transfer uses staging, which excludes streaming.

--force-lower-case

Destination filename will be converted to lowercase characters.

The semantics of options --statistics, --summary-display, --summary-format, --progress-display, --progress-line-format, and --progress-line-interval are the same as with get.

ascii [-s] [remote_nl_conv] [local_nl_conv]

Command ascii sets the transfer mode to ASCII.

For transfers between Tectia on z/OS and other hosts, this also enables automatic ASCII-EBCDIC conversion. Default conversion is between codesets ISO8859-1 and IBM-1047. Files are transferred using the LINE format. The site and lsite commands can be used to change the values.

If you enter the ascii command with any options, it does not set the transfer mode to ASCII, but affects the newline conventions used in the transferred files.

Options:

-s

Shows the current newline convention. The line delimiters used in different systems are:

dos:    CRLF (\r\n, 0x0d 0x0a)
mac:    CR (\r, 0x0d)
mvs:    NEL (\n, 0x15)
unix:   LF (\n, 0x0a)

remote_nl_conv local_nl_conv

This syntax can be used to define the remote and local newline conventions. The local_nl_conv option operates on the local end, but notice that usually the correct local newline convention is already compiled in.

You can either set hints of the newline conventions for the underlying transfer layer, which by default tries to use the actual newline convention given by the server, or alternatively you can force the newline mode.

To set hints of the newline conventions, use these values in the remote_nl_conv and local_nl_conv options: dos, unix, and mac. These settings will be used if the remote SSH server does not automatically provide any newline information to the SFTP client. For example:

sftp> ascii
 File transfer mode is now ascii. 
sftp> ascii unix dos 
 Newline conventions updated.

To force the newline conventions, use these values: force-dos, force-unix, and force-mac. These settings force the newline mode irrespective of what the remote SSH server suggests to the SFTP client.

sftp> ascii
 File transfer mode is now ascii.
sftp> ascii force-unix force-dos
 Newline conventions updated.

You can also set either one of the options to ask, which will cause sftpg3 to prompt you for the newline convention when needed.

auto

File transfer mode will be selected automatically from the file extension.

binary

Files will be transfered in binary mode.

break

Interrupts batch file execution. Batch file execution can be continued with the continue command.

bye

Quits the application.

cd directory

Changes the current remote working directory.

chmod [-R] [-f] [-v] OCTAL-MODE [file...] , chmod [-R] [-f] [-v] [ugoa] [+-=] [rwxs] [file...]

With Unix files, sets file permissions of the specified file or files to the bit pattern OCTAL-MODE or changes the file permissions according to the symbolic mode [ugoa][+-=][rwxs].

Options:

-R: Recursively changes files and directories.
-f: Uses silent mode (error messages are suppressed).
-v: Uses verbose mode (lists every file processed).

close

Closes the remote connection.

continue

Continues interrupted batch file execution.

debug [ disable | no | debuglevel ]

Disables or enables debug. With disable or no, debugging is disabled. Otherwise, sets debuglevel as debug level string, as per command-line option -D.

digest [-H, --hash] [-o, --offset] [-l, --length] file

Calculates MD5 or SHA-1 digest over file data.

Options:

-H, --hash= [ md5 | sha1 ]: Use md5 or sha1 hash algorithm (default: md5).
-o, --offset=OFFSET: Start reading from file offset OFFSET.
-l, --length=LENGTH: Read LENGTH bytes of file data.

echo Text to be echoed.

Echo the text. This command can be used for example in batch mode to print text into batch logs.

get [-p, --preserve-attributes] [-u, --unlink-source] [-I, --interactive] [--overwrite] [--checksum] [-W, --whole-file] [--checkpoint] [--streaming] [--force-lower-case] [--prefix] [--statistics] [--summary-display] [--summary-format] [--progress-display] [--progress-line-format] [--progress-line-interval] [--max-depth=] file...

Transfers the specified files from the remote end to the local end. By default, directories are recursively copied with their contents, but this is configurable in the Connection Broker configuration with the SFTP compatibility mode setting (sftpg3-mode in ssh-broker-config.xml). To view the currently set SFTP compatibility mode, run command:

sftp> help get

The currently set compatibility mode is shown in the beginning of the help for command get.

The SFTP compatibility mode options are:

tectia: The sftpg3 client transfers files recursively from the current directory and all its subdirectories.
ftp: The get command is executed as sget meaning that it transfer a single file, and no subdirectories are copied.
openssh: Only regular files and symbolic links from the specified directory are copied, and no subdirectories are copied. Otherwise the semantics of the get command are unchanged.

Options:

-p, --preserve-attributes

Preserves the file permissions and the timestamps when both the source and the destination are on Unix filesystems (including z/OS USS). Preserves the timestamps but not the file permissions, if either one, the source or the destination is on Windows. If the destination is on z/OS MVS, none will be preserved.

-u, --unlink-source

Removes the source file after file transfer. Also directories are removed, if they become empty (move mode).

-I, --interactive

Prompts whether to overwrite an existing destination file (does not work with batch mode).

--overwrite [ =yes | no ]

Decides whether to overwrite existing destination file(s) (default: yes).

--checksum [ =yes | no | md5 | sha1 | md5-force | sha1-force | checkpoint ]

Uses MD5 or SHA-1 checksums or a separate checkpoint database to determine the point in the file where file transfer can be resumed. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not checked. Use md5-force or sha1-force with small files (default: yes, i.e. use MD5 checksums). Use checkpointing when transferring large files one by one.

-W, --whole-file

Does not try incremental checks. By default (if this option is not given), incremental checks are tried. This option can only be used together with the --checksum option.

--checkpoint=s<seconds>

Time interval between checkpoint updates (default: 10 seconds). This option can only be used when --checksum=checkpoint.

--checkpoint=b<bytes>

Byte interval between checkpoint updates (default: 10 MB). This option can only be used when --checksum=checkpoint.

--streaming [ =yes | no | force | ext ]

Uses streaming in file transfer if the server supports it. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not transferred using streaming. Use force with small files. Default: yes

The --streaming=ext option requires also the --checksum=no option, because if checksums are calculated, the file transfer uses staging, which excludes streaming.

An alternative way to activate extended streaming is to define SSH_SFTP_STREAMING_MODE=ext and SSH_SFTP_CHECKSUM_MODE=no as environment variables.

--force-lower-case

Destination filename will be converted to lower case characters.

--max-depth=VALUE

Defines whether directories are copied recursively. The value can be:

0 - unlimited recursion, directories are recursively copied with their contents

1 - copies files from the specified directory only, not from subdirectories

2-n - copies files recursively from the specified number of directory levels. Here n means the system-spesific maximum.

This command line option overrides the recursion depth set in the Connection Broker configuration with element sftpg3-mode and/or the setting made using environment variable SSH_SFTP_CMD_GETPUT_MODE.

--prefix=PREFIX

Adds prefix PREFIX to filename during the file transfer. The prefix is removed after the file has been successfully transferred.

On z/OS, when applied to MVS dataset names, the prefix will be inserted after the High Level Qualifier (HLQ) by default. In case you want the prefix to be a separate qualifier, include a dot at the end of the prefix:

--prefix=PREFIX.

--statistics [ =no | yes | simple ]

	Note
	In release 6.1.5, the behavior of the `--statistics` option has changed and the `--statistics-format` option has been removed. Instead of them, use the new `--summary-display` and `--summary-format` options.

The --statistics option chooses the style of the statistics to be shown after a file transfer operation. Note that --statistics and --summary-display must not be used together.

The --statistics option takes the following values:

no - no statistics will be created.

yes - shows a progress bar during the file transfer. This is the default. An example of the output:

sftp> get --statistics="yes" sourcefile
sourcefile               |  127MB |  42.9MiB/s | TOC: 00:00:03 | 100%

simple - simple one-line statistics will be displayed after the file transfer has ended. For example:

sftp> get --statistics=simple testfile
sourcefile   | 127MB | 151.3MiB/s | TOC: 00:00:00

--summary-display [ =no | yes | simple | bytes ]

Chooses the style of the file transfer summary data to be displayed after a file transfer operation. With the summary display, the progress bar data is also displayed by default.

Note that --summary-display and --statistics must not be used together.

The --summary-display option takes the following values:

no - no summary data will be created. This is the default.

yes - detailed summary data will be created. You can configure the contents with the summary-format option. By default, the following contents are displayed in the summary:

Default settings:                    Render for example this:
"Source: %c:%g\n"                    user@host1#22:/path/to/source/file
"Source parameters: %e\n"            X=TEXT, C=ISO8859-1,D=IBM.1047
"Destination: %C:%G\n"               user@host2#22:/path/to/destination/file
"Destination parameters: %E\n"       NONE
"File size: %s bytes\n"              123456 bytes
"Transferred: %t bytes\n"            123456 bytes
"Rate: %RB/s\n"                      345kiB/s
"Start: %xy-%xt-%xd %xh:%xm:%xs\n"   2010-01-26 13:10:56
"Stop: %Xy-%Xt-%Xd %Xh:%Xm:%Xs\n"    2010-01-26 13:23:30
"Time: %y\n"                         00:12:34

simple - simple one-line summary will be displayed. For example:

sftp> get --summary-display=simple sourcefile
sourcefile  | 127MB | 151.3MiB/s | TOC: 00:00:00

bytes - basic statistics reporting the transferred bytes will be displayed. For example:

sftp> get --summary-display=bytes sourcefile
Transferred 12915145984 bytes, file: 'sourcefile' -> 'destinationfile'

--summary-format= FORMAT_STRING

Chooses the format and the contents of the summary. You can use this option when --summary-display=yes. Do not use this option with --statistics.

Select the contents for the summary using the following definitions:

%c  - source connection: user@host#port or profile
%C  - destination connection: user@host#port or profile
%D* - current date
%e  - source parameters (file transfer and dataset parameters)
%E  - destination parameters (file transfer and dataset parameters)
%f  - source file name
%F  - destination file name
%g  - /path/to/source/file
%G  - /path/to/destination/file
%k  - compression done ("zlib" or "none")
%p  - transfer percentage
%q  - transfer rate in bit/s
%Q  - transfer rate as "XXyb/s" (b/s, kib/s, Mib/s, Gib/s)
%r  - transfer rate in bytes/s
%R  - transfer rate as "XXyB/s" (B/s, kiB/s, MiB/s, GiB/s)
%s  - file size in bytes
%S  - file size as "XXyB" (B, kiB, MiB or GiB)
%t  - transfer size in bytes
%T  - transfer size as "XXyB" (B, kiB, MiB or GiB)
%x* - start date
%X* - end date
%y  - elapsed time
%Y  - time remaining
%z  - ETA or TOC, if transfer has finished
%Z  - string "ETA" or "TOC", if transfer has finished

Where * is one of the following:

h - hours (00-23)
m - minutes (00-59)
s - seconds (00-59)
f - milliseconds (0-999)
d - day of the month (1-31)
t - month (1-12)
y - year (1970-)

Other special characters in format strings are:

\n - line feed
\r - carriage return
\t - horizontal tab
\\ - backslash

--progress-display [ =no | bar | line ]

Chooses the mode of displaying the progress during a file transfer operation. The default is bar, which shows a progress bar. Option line shows the progress information according to the settings made in the --progress-line-format option.

Do not use this option with --statistics.

--progress-line-format=FORMAT_STRING

Chooses what information will be shown on the progress line. You can use this option when --progress-display=line.

Do not use this option with --statistics.

Select the contents for the progress line using the definitions described for option --summary-format of the get command above.

--progress-line-interval=seconds

Defines how often the progress information is updated in the line mode. The interval is given in seconds, and the default is 60 seconds.

Do not use this option with --statistics.

getext

Displays the extensions that will be ASCII in the auto transfer mode.

lappend [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Same as append, but appends the specified remote file to the local file.

lcd directory

Changes the current local working directory.

lchmod [-R] [-f] [-v] OCTAL-MODE [file...] , lchmod [-R] [-f] [-v] [ugoa] [+-=] [rwxs] [file...]

Same as chmod, but operates on local files.

lclose

Closes the local connection.

ldigest [-H, --hash] [-o, --offset] [-l, --length] file

Same as digest, but operates on local files.

lls [-R] [-l] [-S] [-r] [-p] [-z|+z] [file...]

Same as ls, but operates on local files.

llsroots

Same as lsroots, but operates on local files (when the local end has been opened to a VShell server).

lmkdir directory

Same as mkdir, but operates on local files.

lopen hostname | -l

Tries to connect the local end to the host hostname. If this is successful, lls and friends will operate on the filesystem on that host.

Options:

-l: Connects the local end to the filesystem of the SFTP client host (which does not require a server). This is also the default state when no lopen commands have been given.

lpwd

Prints the name of the current local working directory.

lreadlink path

Same as readlink, but operates on local files.

lrename oldfile newfile

Same as rename, but operates on local files.

lrm [options...] file...

Same as rm, but operates on local files.

lrmdir directory

Same as rmdir, but operates on local files.

ls [-R] [-l] [-S] [-r] [-p] [-z|+z] [file...]

Lists the names of files on the remote server. For directories, contents are listed. If no arguments are given, the contents of the current working directory are listed.

Options:

-R: Directory trees are listed recursively. By default, subdirectories of the arguments are not visited.
-l: Permissions, owners, sizes and modification times are also shown (long format).
-S: Sorting is done based on file sizes (default: alphabetical sorting).
-r: The sort order is reversed.
-p: Only one page of listing is shown at a time.
-z: The client generates the long output.
+z: The long output supplied by the server is used, if available (alias for option -l).

lsite [ none | name1=value1 name2=value2... ]

Same as site, but operates on local files and datasets.

lsroots

Dumps the virtual roots of the server. (This is a VShell extension. Without this you cannot know the filesystem structure of a VShell server.)

lsymlink targetpath linkpath

Same as symlink, but operates on local files.

mget [options...] file...

Synonymous to get.

mkdir directory

Tries to create the directory specified in directory.

mput [options...] file...

Synonymous to put.

open hostname | -l

Tries to connect the remote end to the host hostname.

Options:

-l: Connects the remote end to the filesystem of the SFTP client host (which does not require a server).

pause [seconds]

Pauses batch file execution for seconds seconds, or if seconds is not given until ENTER is pressed.

put [options...] file...

Transfers the specified files from the local end to the remote end. Options and semantics are the same as for get.

pwd

Prints the name of the current remote working directory.

quit

Quits the application.

readlink path

Provided that path is a symbolic link, shows where the link is pointing to.

rename oldfile newfile

Tries to rename the oldfile to newfile. If newfile already exists, the files are left intact.

rm [-I, --interactive] [-r, --recursive] file...

Tries to delete a file or directory specified in file.

Options:

-I, --interactive: Prompts whether to remove a file or directory (does not work with batch mode).
-r, --recursive: Directories are removed recursively.

rmdir directory

Tries to delete the directory specified in directory. This command removes the directory only if it is empty and has no subdirectories.

set [ defaults | [ --commands=name1,name2,... exit-value=VALUE ] | option1=value1 option2=value2... ]

Sets the default values for various parameters. The set command takes the following options:

defaults

Sets the parameters to be system defaults.

checksum [ =md5 | no | md5 | sha1 | md5-force | sha1-force | checkpoint ]

Uses MD5 or SHA-1 checksums or a separate checkpoint database to determine the point in the file where file transfer can be resumed. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not checked. Use md5-force or sha1-force with small files. The default is md5 (in z/OS the default is no). Use checkpointing when transferring large files one by one.

compatibility-mode [ =tectia | ftp | openssh ]

Defines what mode of recursiveness is used in the file transfer:

tectia: The sftpg3 client transfers files recursively from the current directory and all its subdirectories. This is the default mode.
ftp: A single file is transferred, and no subdirectories are copied.
openssh: Only regular files and symbolic links from the specified directory are copied, and no subdirectories are copied.

compressions [ =none | zlib ]

Defines whether compression is used in file transfer:

none: Compression is not used. This is the default.
zlib: Enables zlib compression in file transfer.

exit-value=VALUE

Defines the exit value of sftpg3 in batch mode in case an error occurred. The value must be between 0 and 255. If exit-value is set to something else than 0, batch execution terminates when the first error occurs. The default value is 0.

--commands

Exit value can also be set for specific sftpg3 commands with the --commands option.

For example, when the following command is given:

sftp> set	--commands=put exit-value=0

sftpg3 will abort batch execution only when put command fails and will return the original value of the failure.

By default, in case of errors, sftpg3 does not stop. Instead, it will continue executing and will return the last error message. As an exception, if the cd command gives an error or an invalid command is given, the batch job will always be aborted, as is the case with the following errors: "Authentication failed", "Unable to connect to server", and "Connection aborted".

To set defaults, there are three options:

sftp> set defaults
sftp> set exit-value=0
sftp> set --commands= exit-value=0

Example 1: If the following command is given, sftpg3 will stop in any command that fails and will return exit value "3":

sftp> set exit-value=3

Example 2: When sftpg3 is running in batch mode, it will stop only at the end of the batch file or when put, get, or ls have failed, and will return value "3":

sftp> set --commands=put,get,ls exit-value=3

Example 3: When sftpg3 is running in batch mode, it will stop only at the end of the batch file or when put, get, or ls have failed, and will return the error code of the failed command:

sftp> set --commands=put,get,ls exit-value=0

Note that invalid commands added in --commands will be ignored.

overwrite [ =yes | no ]

Decides whether to overwrite existing destination file(s) (default: yes).

progress-display [ =bar | line | no ]

progress-line-format=FORMAT_STRING

Chooses what information will be shown on the progress line. Use this option when --progress-display=line. See the definitions of contents options in command: get --progress-line-format.

progress-line-interval=seconds

Defines how often the progress information is updated in line mode. The interval is given in seconds, and the default is 60 seconds.

summary-display [ =no | yes | simple | bytes ]

Chooses the style of the file transfer summary data to be displayed after a file transfer operation. With the summary display, the progress bar data is also displayed by default. Do not use this option with --statistics.

See the options described for command: get --summary-display

summary-format=FORMAT_STRING

Chooses the format and the contents of the summary. You can use this option when --summary-display=yes. Do not use this option with --statistics.

See the definitions of contents options in command: get --summary-format

streaming [ =yes | no | force | ext ]

Uses streaming in file transfer if the server supports it. Files smaller than buffer_size_bytes are not transferred using streaming. Use force with small files. Default: yes

The streaming=ext option requires also the checksum=no option, because if checksums are calculated, the file transfer uses staging, which excludes streaming.

setext [extension...]

Sets the file extensions that will be ASCII in the auto transfer mode. Normal zsh-fileglob regexps can be used in the file extensions.

setperm fileperm [:dirperm]

Sets the default file or directory permission bits for upload. (Prefix fileperm with p to preserve permissions of existing files or directories.)

sget [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Transfers a single specified file from the remote end to the local end under the filename defined with dstfile. Directories are not copied. No wildcards can be used. Options are the same as for get.

site [ none | name1=value1 name2=value2... ]

Sets the file and dataset parameters for the remote host. Parameters can be entered either one by one, or several parameters can be delimited by spaces or commas. Both long parameters and abbreviations can be used. When run without arguments, the site command outputs the list of entered parameters. Setting none resets all parameters.

The available parameters are:

A|transfer_translate_dsn_templates=TEMPLATES
automount=YES|NO|IMMED
AUTOMount
autorecall=YES|NO
AUTORecall
B|BLKsize|BLOCKSIze=SIZE
BLocks
C|transfer_codeset=CODESET
chmod
COnddisp=CATLG|UNCATLG|KEEP|DELETE
CYlinders
D|transfer_file_codeset=CODESET
DAtaClass|dataclas=CLASS
dataset_sequence_number=NUMBER
DEfer|defer=YES|NO
E|transfer_translate_table=TABLE
expiry_date=YYDDD|YYYYDDD
F|transfer_format=LINE|STREAM|RECORD
file_status=NEW|MOD|SHR|OLD
FIxrecfm=LENGTH
I|transfer_line_delimiter=UNIX|MVS|MVS-FTP|DOS|MAC
J|transfer_file_line_delimiter=UNIX|MVS|MVS-FTP|DOS|MAC
keylen=LENGTH
keyoff=OFFSET
L|size=SIZE
label_type=SL|NSL|SUL|LTM|AL|AUL
like=LIKE
M|DIrectory|directory_size=SIZE
MGmtclass|mgmtclas=CLASS
NOAUTOMount
NOAUTORecall
NORmdisp=CATLG|UNCATLG|KEEP|DELETE
NOTRAILingblanks
NOTRUNcate
O|RECfm=RECFM
P|profile=PROFILE
PRImary|primary_space=SPACE
R|LRecl=LENGTH
RETpd|retention_period=DAYS
SECondary|secondary_space=SPACE
space_unit=BLKS|TRKS|CYLS|AVGRECLEN
space_unit_length=LENGTH
STorclass|storclas=CLASS
svc99_text_units=STRING
T|type=PS|GDG|PO|PDS|POE|PDSE|HFS|VSAM|ESDS|KSDS|RRN|PREFIX|ALIAS
TRacks
trailing_blanks=YES|NO
TRAILingblanks
TRUNcate
U|record_truncate=YES|NO
UCount|unit_count=NUMBER
unit=UNIT
unit_parallel=YES|NO
VCount|volume_count=NUMBER
volumes=VOL1+VOL2+...
X|transfer_mode=BIN|TEXT

sput [options...] srcfile [dstfile]

Transfers a single specified file from the local end to the remote end under the filename defined with dstfile. Directories are not copied. No wildcards can be used. Options are the same as for get.

sunique [on] [off]

Stores files with unique names. If no option is specified, the command toggles the state of 'sunique'.

In case more than one of the transferred files have the same name, this feature adds a sequential number to the end of the repeated filename, for example: file.name, file.name1, and file.name2.

symlink targetpath linkpath

Creates symbolic link linkpath, which will point to targetpath.

verbose

Enables verbose mode (identical to the debug 2 command). You may later disable verbose mode by debug disable.

help [topic]

If topic is not given, lists the available topics. If topic is given, outputs available online help about the topic.

helpall

Outputs available online help about all topics.

Command Interpretation

sftpg3 understands both backslashes (\) and quotation marks ("") on the command line. A backslash can be used for ignoring the special meaning of any character in the command-line interpretation. It will be removed even if the character it precedes has no special meaning.

When specifying filenames that contain spaces, enclose them in quotation marks.

	Note
	Commands get . and put . will get or put every file in the current directory and possibly they overwrite files in your current directory.

sftpg3 supports wildcard characters (also known as glob patterns) given to commands chmod, lchmod, ls, lls, rm, lrm, get, and put.

Command-Line Editing (Unix)

On Unix, the following key sequences can be used for command-line editing:

Ctrl-Space: Set mark.
Ctrl-A: Go to the beginning of the line.
Ctrl-B: Move the cursor one character to the left.
Ctrl-D: Erase the character to the right of the cursor, or exit the program if the command line is empty.
Ctrl-E: Go to the end of the line.
Ctrl-F: Move the cursor one character to the right.
Ctrl-H: Backspace.
Ctrl-I: Tab.
Ctrl-J: Enter.
Ctrl-K: Delete the rest of the line.
Ctrl-L: Redraw the line.
Ctrl-M: Enter.
Ctrl-N: Move to the next line.
Ctrl-P: Move to the previous line.
Ctrl-T: Toggle two characters.
Ctrl-U: Delete the line.
Ctrl-W: Delete a region (the region's other end is marked with Ctrl-Space).
Ctrl-X: Begin an extended command.
Ctrl-Y: Yank deleted line.
Ctrl-_: Undo.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-L: Lower case region.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-U: Upper case region.
Ctrl-X Ctrl-X: Exchange cursor and mark.
Ctrl-X H: Mark the whole buffer.
Ctrl-X U: Undo.
Esc Ctrl-H: Backwards word delete.
Esc Delete: Backwards word delete.
Esc Space: Delete extra spaces (leaves only one space).
Esc <: Go to the beginning of the line.
Esc >: Go to the end of the line.
Esc @: Mark current word.
Esc A: Go back one sentence.
Esc B: Go back one word.
Esc C: Capitalize current word.
Esc D: Delete current word.
Esc E: Go forward one sentence.
Esc F: Go forward one word.
Esc K: Delete current sentence.
Esc L: Change current word to lower case.
Esc T: Transpose words.
Esc U: Change current word to upper case.
Delete: Backspace.

Filename Support

Different operating systems allow different character sets in filenames. On Unix, some of the special characters are allowed in filenames, but on Windows, the following characters are not allowed:

\/ : * ? " < > |

The sftpg3 command-line tool (both as an interactive and in a batch file) follows the syntax and semantics of Unix shell command-line also on the Windows platform, except that the escape character is ~ (tilde).

When you transfer files that have special characters in the filename (for example unixfilename*?".txt) from a Unix server to Windows, you need to provide the files with new names that are acceptable on Windows.

The sftpg3 command-line client includes two versions of the get command:

The get command can be used to transfer several files at the same time, but it is not possible to define target filenames. Note that if there are special characters in the filenames, you need to rename the files already on Unix so that the names are acceptable also on Windows.

The sget command is used to transfer one file at a time, and it allows you to define a new name for the destination file. Use it to make the name acceptable on Windows. The command sequence is as follows:

$ sftpg3

sftp> open user@server

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" windowsfilename.txt

Escaping special characters

In the sftpg3 command, the following characters have a special meaning, and they need to be escaped in commands that take filenames as arguments:

* asterisk is a wildcard character for any number of any characters

? question mark is a wildcard for any single character

"" quotation marks are placed around strings that are to be taken 'as is'

\ backslash is an escape character on Unix

~ tilde is an escape character on Windows

The escape character tells the sftpg3 command to treat the next character "as is" and not to assume any special meaning for it. The escape character is selected according to the operating system of the local machine.

Note that the \ and ~ characters are special characters themselves, and if they are present in the filename, an escape character must be placed in front of them,too. Therefore, if you need to enter a filename containing \ in Unix or ~ in Windows to any of the sftpg3 commands, add the relevant escape character to it:

\\ on Unix

~~ on Windows

When a filename or part of a filename is placed within the quotation marks "", the sftpg3 command interprets the quoted part 'as is', and none of the characters within the quote are interpreted as wildcards or as any other special characters.

However, on Unix a quotation mark " can also be part of a filename. If you need to enter the " character in a filename, you must add the escape character in front of it both on Unix and on Windows.

For example, to enter a file named file-"name".txt into a command on Windows, enter the following command:

sftp> sget "file-~"name~".txt" filename.txt

See the examples below to learn how the escape characters are used in the Tectia sftpg3 commands, and how to enter filenames with special characters in different operating systems.

Examples of filenames in the sftpg3 commands:

The following filenames are valid in Unix, but they need escape characters in the commands:

file|name.txt
file-"name".txt
file?name.txt
file*name.txt
file\name.txt
file - name.txt
file~name.txt

When using the sftpg3 command-line tool on Unix, enter the above mentioned filenames in the following formats:

file\|name.txt     or  "file|name.txt"
file-\"name\".txt  or  "file-\"name\".txt"
file\?name.txt     or  "file?name.txt"
file\*name.txt     or  "file*name.txt"
file\\name.txt     or  "file\\name.txt"
file\ -\ name.txt  or  "file - name.txt"
file~name.txt      or  "file~name.txt"

Example commands on Unix:

sftp> get "file*name.txt"

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" newfilename.txt

When using the sftpg3 command on Windows, enter the above mentioned Unix filenames in the following formats:

file~|name.txt     or  "file|name.txt"
file-~"name~".txt  or  "file-~"name~".txt"
file~?name.txt     or  "file?name.txt"
file~*name.txt     or  "file*name.txt"
file~\name.txt     or  "file\name.txt"
file~ -~ name.txt  or  "file - name.txt"
file~~name.txt     or  "file~~name.txt"

Example command sequence on Windows:

> sftpg3 open user@server

sftp> get "file name.txt"

sftp> sget "file*name.txt" filename.txt

Environment Variables

sftpg3 uses the following environment variables:

SSH_SFTP_SHOW_BYTE_COUNT=yes|no: If this variable is set to yes, the number of transferred bytes is shown after successful file transfer. Also the names of source and destination files are shown. The default is no.
SSH_SFTP_STATISTICS=yes|no|simple: If this variable is set to yes (default), normal progress bar is shown while transferring the file. If it is set to no, progress bar is not shown. If it is set to simple, file transfer statistics are shown after the file has been transferred.

Exit Values

sftpg3 returns the following values based on the success of the operation:

0     Operation was successful. 
1     Internal error. 
2     Connection aborted by the user.
3     Destination is not a directory, but a directory was specified by the user. 
4     Connecting to the host failed. 
5     Connection lost. 
6     File does not exist. 
7     No permission to access file. 
8     Undetermined error from sshfilexfer.
11    Some non-fatal errors occured during a directory operation.
101   Wrong command-line arguments specified by the user.

In batch mode, sftpg3 returns the value 0 only if no errors occured during the execution. A failure to change the current working directory, a failure to establish a connection, or a connection loss during batch operation cause sftpg3 to abort. Other errors are reported to stderr and the last error value is returned as the exit value of the sftpg3 process.

Examples

Open a sftpg3 session with the remote end connected to the server defined in the connection profile profile1 in the ssh-broker-config.xml file (the local end is intially connected to the filesystem of the SFTP client host):

$ sftpg3 profile1

Run sftpg3 in batch mode:

$ sftpg3 -B batch.txt

Example contents of the batch file batch.txt are shown below. Non-interactive authentication methods are used and the server host keys have been stored beforehand:

lopen user@unixserver.example.com
open user@winserver.example.com
binary
lcd backup
cd c:/temp
get --force-lower-case Testfile-X.bin
lchmod 700 testfile-x.bin
quit

The example batch file opens the local end of the connection to a Unix server and the remote end to a Windows server, and sets the transfer mode to binary. It changes to local directory backup and remote directory C:\Temp, and copies a file from the remote directory to the local directory. The filename is changed to lower-case characters (testfile-x.bin). After transfer, the file permissions are changed to allow the user full rights and others no rights.