$ Linux Command

Network

lftp

Sophisticated file transfer program supporting FTP, HTTP, and other protocols.

ftpsftphttpdownloaduploadtransfer

Additional Notes

lftp is a feature-rich command-line file transfer program that supports FTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, HFTP, FISH, SFTP, and Torrent protocols. It excels at handling unreliable connections through automatic retries, reconnection, and resume capabilities.

It offers both an interactive shell with tab completion and scripting capabilities for automated transfers. Key features include parallel transfers (segmented downloads), mirroring directories, bandwidth limiting, and job queuing. The mirror command is particularly powerful for synchronizing remote and local directories.

Syntax

lftp [options] [host]
lftp -f script-file

Parameters

  • host: The server URL or hostname to connect to (e.g., ftp://example.com, sftp://user@host).

Common Interactive Commands

  • open [host]: Connect to a server.
  • get [file]: Download a file.
  • put [file]: Upload a file.
  • mget [pattern]: Download multiple files matching a pattern.
  • mput [pattern]: Upload multiple files matching a pattern.
  • mirror [remote] [local]: Mirror a remote directory to local (or reverse with -R).
  • ls: List remote directory contents.
  • cd [dir]: Change remote directory.
  • lcd [dir]: Change local directory.
  • pget [file]: Download using multiple parallel connections.
  • queue: Queue commands for sequential execution.
  • exit or quit: Close the session.

Common Options

  • -u user,pass: Specify username and password.
  • -p port: Specify the port number.
  • -e cmd: Execute a command after connecting.
  • -f script: Run commands from a script file.
  • -d: Enable debug output.
  • --help: Show help.

Examples

lftp ftp://ftp.example.com

Open an interactive FTP session.

lftp -e "mirror /pub/docs ./docs; exit" ftp://ftp.example.com

Mirror a remote directory and exit.

lftp -u anonymous,user@example.com ftp://ftp.example.com

Connect with explicit anonymous login.

lftp -e "pget -n 4 large-file.iso; exit" ftp://ftp.example.com

Download a file with 4 parallel connections.

lftp sftp://user@example.com

Connect over SFTP.

lftp -f script.lftp

Run commands from a script file.

Practical Notes

  • Mirroring with mirror --delete --only-newer keeps local and remote directories in sync.
  • Use set net:max-retries 5 and set net:timeout 30 for robust handling of slow connections.
  • Parallel downloads with pget can significantly speed up transfers from servers that throttle single connections.
  • lftp bookmarks can be stored in ~/.lftp/bookmarks.