ncftpget(1)                                           ncftpget(1)

NAME
       ncftpget - Internet file transfer program for scripts

SYNOPSIS
       ncftpget  [options]  remote-host  local-directory  remote-
       files...

       ncftpget -f login.cfg  [options]  local-directory  remote-
       files...

       ncftpget [options] ftp://url.style/host/path/name

OPTIONS
   Command line flags:
       -u XX   Use username XX instead of anonymous.

       -p XX   Use password XX with the username.

       -P XX   Use port number XX instead of the default FTP ser-
               vice port (21).

       -d XX   Use the file XX for debug logging.

       -a      Use ASCII transfer type instead of binary.

       -t XX   Timeout after XX seconds.

       -v/-V   Do (do not) use progress meters.  The  default  is
               to  use  progress meters if the output stream is a
               TTY.

       -f XX   Read the file XX  for  host,  user,  and  password
               information.

       -A      Append  to  local  files,  instead  of overwriting
               them.

       -z/-Z   Do (do not) try to resume transfers.  The  default
               is to try to resume (-z).

       -F      Use passive (PASV) data connections.

       -DD     Delete  remote file after successfully downloading
               it.

       -R      Recursive mode; copy whole directory trees.

       -r XX   Redial a maximum of XX times  until  connected  to
               the remote FTP server.

DESCRIPTION
       The  purpose  of ncftpget is to do file transfers from the
       command-line without entering an interactive shell.   This
       lets you write shell scripts or other unattended processes
       that can do FTP.  It is also useful for advanced users who
       want to retrieve files from the shell command line without
       entering an interactive FTP program such as ncftp.

       One particularly useful feature of this  program  is  that
       you  can  give  it  a uniform resource locator as the only
       argument and the program will download that file.  You can
       then  copy  and  paste from your web browser or newsreader
       and use that URL.  Example:

           $ cd /tmp
           $ ncftpget ftp://ftp.probe.net/pub/ncftp/ncftp.tar.Z
           $ zcat ncftp.tar.Z | tar xf -

       By default the program tries to open the remote  host  and
       login  anonymously,  but  you  can  specify a username and
       password information.  The -u option is  used  to  specify
       the  username  to  login  as, and the -p option is used to
       specify the password.  If you are running the program from
       the shell, you may omit the -p option and the program will
       prompt you for the password.

       Using the -u and -p options are not  recommended,  because
       your  account information is exposed to anyone who can see
       your shell script or your process information.  For  exam-
       ple,  someone using the ps program could see your password
       while the program runs.

       You may use the -f option instead to specify a  file  with
       the  account  information.   However,  this  is  still not
       secure because anyone who has read access to the  informa-
       tion  file can see the account information.  Nevertheless,
       if you choose to use the -f option the  file  should  look
       something like this:

           host Bozo.probe.net
           user gleason
           pass mypasswd

       Don't  forget to change the permissions on this file so no
       one else can read them.

       The -d option is very useful when you are trying to  diag-
       nose  why  a  file transfer is failing.  It prints out the
       entire FTP conversation to the file you  specify,  so  you
       can  get  an  idea of what went wrong.  If you specify the
       special name stdout as the name of  the  debugging  output
       file,  the output will instead print to the screen.  Exam-
       ple:

           $ ncftpget -d stdout ftp.probe.net . /pub/ncftp/README
           220: ftp.probe.net FTP server ready.
           Connected to ftp.probe.net.
           Cmd: USER anonymous
           331: Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address
           as password.
           Cmd: PASS xxxxxxxx
           230: Welcome!
           Logged in to ftp.probe.net as anonymous.
           Cmd: TYPE I
           200: Type set to I.
           Cmd: SIZE /pub/ncftp/README
           550: /pub/ncftp/README: not a plain file.
           Cmd: MDTM /pub/ncftp/README
           550: /pub/ncftp/README: No such file or directory.
           Cmd: PORT 192,168,1,17,6,76
           200: PORT command successful.
           Cmd: RETR /pub/ncftp/README
           550: /pub/ncftp/README: No such file OR directory.
           ncftpget: file retrieval error: could not  start  data
           transfer.
           Cmd: QUIT
           221: Goodbye.

       Using  ASCII  mode is helpful when the text format of your
       host differs from that of the remote host.   For  example,
       if  you  are  retrieving  a .TXT file from a Windows-based
       host to a UNIX system, you could use  the  -a  flag  which
       would  use ASCII transfer mode so that the file created on
       the UNIX system would be in the UNIX text  format  instead
       of the MS-DOS text format.

       You  can  retrieve  an  entire  directory tree of files by
       using the -R flag.  However, this will work  only  if  the
       remote  FTP  server  is  a UNIX server, or emulates UNIX's
       list output.  Example:

           $ ncftpget -R ftp.probe.net /tmp /pub/ncftp

       This would create a /tmp/ncftp hierarchy.

DIAGNOSTICS
       ncftpget returns the following exit values:

       0       Success.

       1       Could not connect to remote host.

       2       Could not connect to remote host - timed out.

       3       Transfer failed.

       4       Transfer failed - timed out.

       5       Directory change failed.

       6       Directory change failed - timed out.

       7       Malformed URL.

       8       Usage error.

       9       Error in login configuration file.

       10      Library initialization failed.

       11      Session initialization failed.

AUTHOR
       Mike Gleason, NCEMRSoft (mgleason@probe.net).

SEE ALSO
       ncftpput(1), ncftp(1), ftp(1), rcp(1), tftp(1).

       LibNcFTP (http://www.probe.net/~mgleason/libncftp).

                            NCEMRSoft                           1