NCFTP 2.0.4

A Configurable Interface to the File Transfer Protocol

NCFTP is a an interface to FTP (file transfer protocol). It offers many useful features not found in FTP.
Click on colored / underlined items to use this menu and move around the document.

• Getting Started: Step by Step Example
  • Starting a Session
  • Help!
  • Connecting
  • Changing Directories
  • Transferring Files
  • Exiting
• Connecting
  • Auto Anonymous Login
  • Hosts Menu: Previously Called Sites
  • Redialing
• File Transfer
  • Paging: Viewing Long Listings and Files
  • get and put: Two Commands Do It All
  • Colon Mode: All In One Step!
  • Log File
• Customizing
  • Prefs Menu: Your Personal FTP Environment
  • Macros

Getting Started

This is a brief introduction to NCFTP. If you are already familiar with basic FTP, you can skip this section. The rest of this document deals with features of NCFTP not found in FTP.

1. Starting a Session

   At the shell prompt, type ncftp. You will then see the NCFTP prompt at the very bottom of your window.
   
   % ncftp
   ncftp>
   
   
   

2. Help!

   NCFTP comes with built in help. To see a list of NCFTP commands, type:
   
   ncftp> help
   
   If you want to learn more about a certain command, type help followed by the command name. For example:
   
   ncftp> help ls
   
   ls: prints a remote directory listing.
   Usage: ls [items to list]
   
   
   

3. Connecting

   The open command opens a connection to a remote ftp site. To connect to the machine ftp.unicamp.br, type:
   
   ncftp> open ftp.unicamp.br
   
   Trying to connect to ftp.unicamp.br...
   Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
   
   
   

4. Changing Directories

   Once you connect to a machine, your current remote directory will be shown on the right side of the status bar, the second line up from the bottom of your window. To see the contents of the directory you're currently in, type ls.
   
   ncftp> ls
   
   The cd command is used to change directories, just like the UNIX cd command.
   
   ncftp> cd games
   
   This will change your current directory to the games directory.
   
   
   

5. Transferring Files

   The get command is used to tranfer files from the host machine to your machine. To get the file doom.tar.gz, type:
   
   ncftp> get doom.tar.gz
   
   You can include a path with the filename. For example if doom.tar.gz is in the pub/games directory but you are in pub, type:
   
   ncftp> get games/doom.tar.gz
   
   
   

6. Exiting

   To end your NCFTP session, just type quit.
   
   ncftp> quit
   %
   
   

Auto Anonymous Login

1. Login to a site with username and password from the command line.
   Disable anonymous mode with -u.
   
   % ncftp -u osiris
   
   You can use the -u flag from the NCFTP prompt too.
   
   ncftp> open -u osiris
   
   
2. It is possible to disable anonymous login and make user & password login your default using the prefs command. You'll see a list of options and be able to change default open mode from "anonymous" to "user & password".

Hosts Menu

1. Display the hosts menu.
   
   ncftp> hosts
   
   
2. With the arrow keys, select from the menu the site you would like to call and press enter.
   
   

1. Display the hosts menu.
   
   ncftp> hosts
   
   
2. Select from the menu the site you would like to call with the arrow keys.
   
   
3. Enter editing mode.
   
   /ed
   
   
4. Select the site option you would like to edit by pressing its corresponding letter.
   
   
5. When you're done, press x to exit editing mode.
   
   
6. Press x to exit the hosts menu.

Redialing

Paging

1. Directory Listings

   The built in pager is always used when you type ls or dir.
   
   

2. Text Files

   When you want to look at README or other text files, use the page command.
   
   ncftp> page README
   
   

get and put

Get

1. Get One File:

   This is how to fetch a file named README.
   
   ncftp> get README
   
   

2. Get One File and Rename It:

   The file README will be renamed Read.Me.Now.
   
   ncftp> get -z README Read.Me.Now
   
   

3. Get All Files That Match a Pattern:

   This is like UNIX wildcard matching. The * stands for any character(s). The following example shows how to get all files in the current directory ending with the extention .txt.
   
   ncftp> get *.txt
   
   

4. Get Multiple Files:

   Just list all the files you want to get.
   
   ncftp> get foo1 foo2 foo3 foo4
   
   

5. Get a Directory:

   In this example, NCFTP will get all the files in the directory /pub/games/dos and create a dos subdirectory in the download directory to put them in.
   
   ncftp> get -R /pub/games/dos
   
   

6. Get Only New Files:

   This example shows how to get all files in the current directory that are 3 days old or newer.
   
   ncftp> get -n 3 *
   
   

Put

1. Send One File

   This sends the file foo to the remote host.
   
   ncftp> put foo
   
   

2. Send One File and Rename It

   The file foo is sent and renamed foobar.
   
   ncftp> put -z foo foobar
   
   

Colon Mode

1. Basic Colon Mode:

   Give NCFTP the site, path, and filename all on one line. It will fetch the file and put it in your download directory.
   
   % ncftp ftp.funet.fi:/pub/picture/snoopy.jpg
   
   This example gets the file snoopy.jpg from the directory /pub/picture on the host ftp.funet.fi.
   
   
   

2. File Piped Through Pager:

   The -m flag pipes a file through the more pager.
   
   % ncftp -m ftp.funet.fi:/pub/games/README
   
   
   

3. File Sent To Standard Output:

   The -c flag sends a file to standard output where it can be redirected with the > symbol or piped with the | symbol.
   
   This sends a file to Joe Schmoe's docs directory instead of his regular download directory.
   
   % ncftp -c ftp.funet.fi:/pub/README > ~jshmoe/docs/README
   
   This sends a file through the wourd count (wc) program.
   
   % ncftp -c ftp.funet.fi:/pub/README | wc
   
   

Log File

Prefs Menu

                      Preferences

  A Default open mode:          anonymous
* B Anonymous password:         Joe_Schmoe@hmc.edu
  C Blank lines between cmds:   yes
  D Default FTP mode:           Send-Port FTP only (PORT)
* E User log size:              10240
  F Max hosts to save:          unlimited
* G Pager:                      more
* H Progress meter:             percent meter
  I Remote messages:            allow startup messages
* J Startup in Local Dir:       /home/jschmoe/download
  K Startup messages:           headers only
  L Network timeout:            30
  M Trace logging:              no
  N File timestamps:            try to preserve file timestamps
  O Screen graphics:            visual (curses)

  X (Done editing)

Macros

macro MACRO_NAME
	COMMAND 1  
	COMMAND 2
	...
end

macro dt
        echo Date: %B %d
        echo Time: %H:%M
end

Date: May 17
Time: 10:09