PuTTY Series: Using PSFTP
26 May 2006
PSFTP is a nice little program that allows you to upload files from your local Windows machine to another machine such as a remote GNU/Linux/BSD/Unix/Mac OS X server.
It uses the SSH File Transfer Protocol - SFTP, (this has nothing to do with FTP), and can provide secure file transfer over a network.
Starting PSFTP
You start PSFTP by clicking on its option in the PuTTY folder in the start menu.
When you start PSFTP you will see a prompt like this:
psftp>
Connecting to a remote machine
To start a session use the open command, this can be a hostname or an IP Address, so:
open username@host.net
open warrior@google.com
open warrior@192.168.0.99
Moving files
To move a file to the server use the put command, for example:
put image.png
To retrieve a file from the server down to the local machine, use the get command:
get image.png
That is all you really need to know. There are lots of other commands, but because PSFTP is not very forgiving of typing mistakes, I personally find it easier to move files around on the remote server using PuTTY rather than PSFTP.
However for moving files between Windows and a GNU/Linux/Unix machine, PSFTP works really well. However if you do want to know more commands then I have reproduced the program's in-line help below.
PSFTP - command reference
! run a local command
bye finish your SFTP session
cd change your remote working directory
chmod change file permissions and modes
close finish your SFTP session but do not quit PSFTP
del delete files on the remote server
dir list remote files
exit finish your SFTP session
get download a file from the server to your local machine
help give help
lcd change local working directory
lpwd print local working directory
ls list remote files
mget download multiple files at once
mkdir create directories on the remote server
mput upload multiple files at once
mv move or rename file(s) on the remote server
open connect to a host
put upload a file from your local machine to the server
pwd print your remote working directory
quit finish your SFTP session
reget continue downloading files
ren move or rename file(s) on the remote server
reput continue uploading files
rm delete files on the remote server
rmdir remove directories on the remote server
1 elwing says...
Be careful when using PSFTP and pscp for large files - large files (>2GB and > 4GB) don't work. The transfer appears to work, but ends up trying to transfer your file very slowly, and never finishes.
Posted at 9:18 p.m. on May 26, 2006
2 Zeth says...
Well that sucks. :( but thanks Elwing for letting us know. :)
I have moved very large files indeed with normal Linux scp on a LAN between two Linux boxes. So in this case it is either Windows or PuTTY that is the limiting factor.
I assume it is PuTTY here, but in its defence, I know the theoretical maximum of file-size for Windows used to be 4GB. The real size was often much lower. Even when using NTFS, Windows XP's support for large files is still a bit of a curate's egg.
I would consider splitting the file into chunks before sending it across. The Linux/Unix command lxsplit can split files into chunks, as can the graphical Linux program gtk-splitter.
Apparently the Windows program HJSplit can also do that, although I have never used it.
You could also just use good old bittorrent to send such large stuff across. The advantage of BT is that it would also be checksummed along the way so you know that all the King's men have put humpty-dumpy back together correctly.
Posted at 12:38 a.m. on May 27, 2006
3 António says...
I have a problem when I try to use PSFTP with a file with this name 'test:yup.xml' for example, PSFTP does not like ':' and I can't rn the file. Can you help me?
Posted at 10:32 p.m. on January 29, 2007
4 Louis says...
Hello, i will like to know if a zip file for example .zip can be uploaded in the server via putty and also can it be unzip if it can be uploaded. Please if this is possible, whats the command to unzip and unrar.
Posted at 11:11 p.m. on June 22, 2007
5 P.Kalidas says...
Hi,
In Psftp file transfered in Binary mode.How to transfer file in ASCII mode. We have a option in SFTP to transfer the file in Binary or ASCII.
Posted at 6:59 p.m. on April 4, 2009
6 Abhishek Dahnotia says...
I am using PUTTY .58 version. i am trying to send file through the Web Application. The application is hosted on a server and same server having PSFTP.exe. the problem is that if i logged in in the application server, i can able to send the file, but if i logged off to the server i am not able to send file by browser of my machine.
Posted at 10:15 a.m. on April 13, 2009
7 Steven says...
when I bring up the psftp and open to a host as soon as I hit the enter key my command line window disappears.
Posted at 12:28 p.m. on June 7, 2009
8 sreejith says...
I want to download a file from remote server in binary format. Can anyone let me know the command to do so?
Thanks in advance
Posted at 6:23 a.m. on July 3, 2009
9 Manny says...
I keep entering the put index.html command but it wont open it. And yes, it's saved as a text document onto my desktop. How do I fix this problem?
Posted at 11 p.m. on July 8, 2009
10 Jehzeel Laurente says...
btw, how can I move all files at once? For instance i have several files at folder B 1 and I want to move all of the files from folder_b_1 to folder_b? How can I do that in putty?
Here's the arrangement of my folders:
home/folder_b/folder_b_1
I hope someone can answer my question. :(
Posted at 12:23 a.m. on August 16, 2009
11 yc says...
Hi Steven,
I've encountered similar problem like yours before, it was because of the host did not open port 22 for your machine where you're accessing the sftp.
You may need to open the port 22 from the host machine.
Posted at 9:32 a.m. on September 23, 2009
12 Boopathi says...
If any possible way to get the latest file(using date and time stamp) present in the folder of SFTP.
Posted at 6:10 a.m. on October 1, 2009
13 Bubba says...
Is there any way psftp can return the true transfer rates oberved during the actual transfer?
Posted at 2:56 p.m. on October 18, 2009
14 Manju says...
I am transferring some files using psftp to other device's FAT partition. But the filestamp of the file being transferred is modified to that of FAT device, after the transfer. Is psftp creates a new file and copy the contents of the original file? I wanted, the file to be copied as it is, including with the date time. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Posted at 5:09 a.m. on November 4, 2009