ZSHZFTPSYS(1)



ZSHZFTPSYS(1)               General Commands Manual              ZSHZFTPSYS(1)

NAME
       zshzftpsys - zftp function front-end

DESCRIPTION
       This describes the set of shell functions supplied with the source dis-
       tribution as an interface to the zftp builtin command, allowing you  to
       perform  FTP operations from the shell command line or within functions
       or scripts.  The interface is similar to a traditional FTP client (e.g.
       the  ftp command itself, see ftp(1)), but as it is entirely done within
       the shell all the familiar completion, editing and  globbing  features,
       and  so on, are present, and macros are particularly simple to write as
       they are just ordinary shell functions.

       The prerequisite is that the zftp  command,  as  described  in  zshmod-
       ules(1)  ,  must  be  available in the version of zsh installed at your
       site.  If the shell is configured to load new commands at run time,  it
       probably  is:  typing  `zmodload zsh/zftp' will make sure (if that runs
       silently, it has worked).  If this is not the case, it is possible zftp
       was  linked  into the shell anyway: to test this, type `which zftp' and
       if zftp is available you will get the  message  `zftp:  shell  built-in
       command'.

       Commands  given  directly with zftp builtin may be interspersed between
       the functions in this suite; in a few cases, using  zftp  directly  may
       cause  some of the status information stored in shell parameters to be-
       come invalid.  Note in particular  the  description  of  the  variables
       $ZFTP_TMOUT, $ZFTP_PREFS and $ZFTP_VERBOSE for zftp.

INSTALLATION
       You  should  make sure all the functions from the Functions/Zftp direc-
       tory of the source distribution are available; they all begin with  the
       two letters `zf'.  They may already have been installed on your system;
       otherwise, you will need to find them and  copy  them.   The  directory
       should  appear  as one of the elements of the $fpath array (this should
       already be the case if they were installed), and at least the  function
       zfinit  should  be  autoloaded; it will autoload the rest.  Finally, to
       initialize the use of the system you need to call the zfinit  function.
       The  following  code  in  your .zshrc will arrange for this; assume the
       functions are stored in the directory ~/myfns:

              fpath=(~/myfns $fpath)
              autoload -U zfinit
              zfinit

       Note that zfinit assumes you are using the zmodload method to load  the
       zftp  command.  If it is already built into the shell, change zfinit to
       zfinit -n.  It is helpful (though not essential) if the call to  zfinit
       appears  after  any  code to initialize the new completion system, else
       unnecessary compctl commands will be given.

FUNCTIONS
       The sequence of operations in performing a file transfer is essentially
       the  same  as that in a standard FTP client.  Note that, due to a quirk
       of the shell's getopts builtin, for those functions that handle options
       you must use `--' rather than `-' to ensure the remaining arguments are
       treated literally (a single `-' is treated as an argument).

   Opening a connection
       zfparams [ host [ user [ password ... ] ] ]
              Set or show the parameters for a future  zfopen  with  no  argu-
              ments.   If  no  arguments are given, the current parameters are
              displayed (the password will be shown as a line  of  asterisks).
              If a host is given, and either the user or password is not, they
              will be prompted for; also, any parameter given as `?'  will  be
              prompted  for, and if the `?' is followed by a string, that will
              be used as the prompt.  As zfopen calls zfparams  to  store  the
              parameters, this usually need not be called directly.

              A  single  argument `-' will delete the stored parameters.  This
              will also cause the memory of the last directory (and so on)  on
              the other host to be deleted.

       zfopen [ -1 ] [ host [ user [ password [ account ] ] ] ]
              If  host  is present, open a connection to that host under user-
              name user with password password (and,  on  the  rare  occasions
              when  it is necessary, account account).  If a necessary parame-
              ter is missing or given as `?' it will be prompted for.  If host
              is not present, use a previously stored set of parameters.

              If  the  command  was successful, and the terminal is compatible
              with xterm or is sun-cmd, a summary will  appear  in  the  title
              bar,  giving the local host:directory and the remote host:direc-
              tory; this is handled by the function zftp_chpwd, described  be-
              low.

              Normally,  the  host,  user and password are internally recorded
              for later re-opening, either by a zfopen with no  arguments,  or
              automatically (see below).  With the option `-1', no information
              is stored.  Also, if an open command with arguments failed,  the
              parameters  will  not  be  retained (and any previous parameters
              will also be deleted).  A zfopen on its own,  or  a  zfopen  -1,
              never alters the stored parameters.

              Both zfopen and zfanon (but not zfparams) understand URLs of the
              form ftp://host/path... as meaning to connect to the host,  then
              change  directory  to  path  (which  must  be a directory, not a
              file).  The `ftp://' can be omitted; the trailing `/' is  enough
              to  trigger  recognition  of the path.  Note prefixes other than
              `ftp:' are not recognized, and that  all  characters  after  the
              first slash beyond host are significant in path.

       zfanon [ -1 ] host
              Open  a connection host for anonymous FTP.  The username used is
              `anonymous'.  The password (which will  be  reported  the  first
              time)  is  generated  as  user@host;  this is then stored in the
              shell parameter $EMAIL_ADDR which can alternatively be set manu-
              ally to a suitable string.

   Directory management
       zfcd [ dir ]
       zfcd -
       zfcd old new
              Change  the current directory on the remote server:  this is im-
              plemented to have many of the features of the shell builtin cd.

              In the first form with dir present, change to the directory dir.
              The  command `zfcd ..' is treated specially, so is guaranteed to
              work on non-UNIX servers (note this  is  handled  internally  by
              zftp).  If dir is omitted, has the effect of `zfcd ~'.

              The second form changes to the directory previously current.

              The  third  form attempts to change the current directory by re-
              placing the first occurrence of the string old with  the  string
              new in the current directory.

              Note that in this command, and indeed anywhere a remote filename
              is expected, the string which on the local host  corresponds  to
              `~' is converted back to a `~' before being passed to the remote
              machine.  This is convenient because of  the  way  expansion  is
              performed  on  the  command  line before zfcd receives a string.
              For example, suppose the command is  `zfcd  ~/foo'.   The  shell
              will    expand   this   to   a   full   path   such   as   `zfcd
              /home/user2/pws/foo'.  At this stage, zfcd recognises  the  ini-
              tial path as corresponding to `~' and will send the directory to
              the remote host as ~/foo, so that the `~' will  be  expanded  by
              the  server  to  the correct remote host directory.  Other named
              directories of the form `~name' are not treated in this fashion.

       zfhere Change directory on the remote server to the  one  corresponding
              to  the current local directory, with special handling of `~' as
              in zfcd.   For  example,  if  the  current  local  directory  is
              ~/foo/bar, then zfhere performs the effect of `zfcd ~/foo/bar'.

       zfdir [ -rfd ] [ - ] [ dir-options ] [ dir ]
              Produce a long directory listing.  The arguments dir-options and
              dir are passed directly to the server and their effect is imple-
              mentation  dependent,  but specifying a particular remote direc-
              tory dir is usually possible.  The output is  passed  through  a
              pager  given  by  the  environment variable $PAGER, or `more' if
              that is not set.

              The directory is usually cached for re-use.  In fact, two caches
              are  maintained.  One is for use when there is no dir-options or
              dir, i.e. a full listing of the current remote directory; it  is
              flushed when the current remote directory changes.  The other is
              kept for repeated use of zfdir with the same arguments; for  ex-
              ample,  repeated  use  of `zfdir /pub/gnu' will only require the
              directory to be retrieved on  the  first  call.   Alternatively,
              this cache can be re-viewed with the -r option.  As relative di-
              rectories will confuse zfdir, the -f option can be used to force
              the cache to be flushed before the directory is listed.  The op-
              tion -d will delete both  caches  without  showing  a  directory
              listing; it will also delete the cache of file names in the cur-
              rent remote directory, if any.

       zfls [ ls-options ] [ dir ]
              List files on the remote server.  With no arguments,  this  will
              produce  a  simple list of file names for the current remote di-
              rectory.  Any arguments are passed directly to the  server.   No
              pager and no caching is used.

   Status commands
       zftype [ type ]
              With no arguments, show the type of data to be transferred, usu-
              ally ASCII or binary.  With an argument, change  the  type:  the
              types  `A' or `ASCII' for ASCII data and `B' or `BINARY', `I' or
              `IMAGE' for binary data are understood case-insensitively.

       zfstat [ -v ]
              Show the status of the current or last connection,  as  well  as
              the  status of some of zftp's status variables.  With the -v op-
              tion, a more verbose listing is produced by querying the  server
              for its version of events, too.

   Retrieving files
       The  commands  for  retrieving  files all take at least two options. -G
       suppresses remote filename expansion which would otherwise be performed
       (see  below  for  a more detailed description of that).  -t attempts to
       set the modification time of the local file to that of the remote file:
       see the description of the function zfrtime below for more information.

       zfget [ -Gtc ] file1 ...
              Retrieve  all  the listed files file1 ... one at a time from the
              remote server.  If a file contains  a  `/',  the  full  name  is
              passed  to the remote server, but the file is stored locally un-
              der the name given by the part after the final `/'.  The  option
              -c (cat) forces all files to be sent as a single stream to stan-
              dard output; in this case the -t option has no effect.

       zfuget [ -Gvst ] file1 ...
              As zfget, but only retrieve files where the version on  the  re-
              mote  server  is newer (has a later modification time), or where
              the local file does not exist.  If the remote file is older  but
              the files have different sizes, or if the sizes are the same but
              the remote file is newer, the  user  will  usually  be  queried.
              With  the  option  -s, the command runs silently and will always
              retrieve the file in either of those two cases.  With the option
              -v, the command prints more information about the files while it
              is working out whether or not to transfer them.

       zfcget [ -Gt ] file1 ...
              As zfget, but if any of the local files exists, and  is  shorter
              than  the corresponding remote file, the command assumes that it
              is the result of a partially completed transfer and attempts  to
              transfer the rest of the file.  This is useful on a poor connec-
              tion which keeps failing.

              Note that this requires a commonly  implemented,  but  non-stan-
              dard,  version of the FTP protocol, so is not guaranteed to work
              on all servers.

       zfgcp [ -Gt ] remote-file local-file
       zfgcp [ -Gt ] rfile1 ... ldir
              This retrieves files from the remote server with  arguments  be-
              having similarly to the cp command.

              In the first form, copy remote-file from the server to the local
              file local-file.

              In the second form, copy all the remote files  rfile1  ...  into
              the local directory ldir retaining the same basenames.  This as-
              sumes UNIX directory semantics.

   Sending files
       zfput [ -r ] file1 ...
              Send all the file1 ... given separately to  the  remote  server.
              If  a filename contains a `/', the full filename is used locally
              to find the file, but only the basename is used for  the  remote
              file name.

              With the option -r, if any of the files are directories they are
              sent recursively with all their subdirectories, including  files
              beginning  with  `.'.  This requires that the remote machine un-
              derstand UNIX file semantics, since `/' is used as  a  directory
              separator.

       zfuput [ -vs ] file1 ...
              As  zfput, but only send files which are newer than their remote
              equivalents, or if the remote file does not exist.  The logic is
              the  same  as  for zfuget, but reversed between local and remote
              files.

       zfcput file1 ...
              As zfput, but if any remote file already exists and  is  shorter
              than  the local equivalent, assume it is the result of an incom-
              plete transfer and send the rest of the file to  append  to  the
              existing  part.   As the FTP append command is part of the stan-
              dard set, this is in principle more likely to work than zfcget.

       zfpcp local-file remote-file
       zfpcp lfile1 ... rdir
              This sends files to the remote server  with  arguments  behaving
              similarly to the cp command.

              With  two  arguments,  copy  local-file  to  the  server  as re-
              mote-file.

              With more than two arguments, copy all the  local  files  lfile1
              ...  into  the existing remote directory rdir retaining the same
              basenames.  This assumes UNIX directory semantics.

              A problem arises if you attempt to use zfpcp lfile1  rdir,  i.e.
              the  second  form of copying but with two arguments, as the com-
              mand has no simple way of knowing if rdir corresponds to  a  di-
              rectory  or  a filename.  It attempts to resolve this in various
              ways.  First, if the rdir argument is `.' or `..' or ends  in  a
              slash, it is assumed to be a directory.  Secondly, if the opera-
              tion of copying to a remote file in the first form  failed,  and
              the remote server sends back the expected failure code 553 and a
              reply including the string `Is a  directory',  then  zfpcp  will
              retry using the second form.

   Closing the connection
       zfclose
              Close the connection.

   Session management
       zfsession [ -lvod ] [ sessname ]
              Allows you to manage multiple FTP sessions at once.  By default,
              connections take place in a session called `default'; by  giving
              the  command `zfsession sessname' you can change to a new or ex-
              isting session with a name of your choice.  The new session  re-
              members  its own connection, as well as associated shell parame-
              ters, and also the host/user parameters set by zfparams.   Hence
              you  can  have different sessions set up to connect to different
              hosts, each remembering the appropriate host, user and password.

              With no arguments, zfsession prints the name of the current ses-
              sion;  with  the option -l it lists all sessions which currently
              exist, and with the option -v it gives a  verbose  list  showing
              the  host and directory for each session, where the current ses-
              sion is marked with an asterisk.  With -o, it will switch to the
              most recent previous session.

              With -d, the given session (or else the current one) is removed;
              everything to do with it is completely forgotten.  If it was the
              only session, a new session called `default' is created and made
              current.  It is safest not to delete sessions  while  background
              commands using zftp are active.

       zftransfer sess1:file1 sess2:file2
              Transfer files between two sessions; no local copy is made.  The
              file is read from the session sess1 as file1 and written to ses-
              sion sess2 as file file2; file1 and file2 may be relative to the
              current directories of the session.  Either sess1 or  sess2  may
              be  omitted  (though  the colon should be retained if there is a
              possibility of a colon appearing in the file name) and  defaults
              to  the  current session; file2 may be omitted or may end with a
              slash, in which case the basename of file1 will be  added.   The
              sessions sess1 and sess2 must be distinct.

              The  operation  is performed using pipes, so it is required that
              the connections still be valid in a subshell, which is  not  the
              case under versions of some operating systems, presumably due to
              a system bug.

   Bookmarks
       The two functions zfmark and zfgoto allow you to `bookmark' the present
       location  (host,  user and directory) of the current FTP connection for
       later use.  The file to be used for storing and retrieving bookmarks is
       given  by  the  parameter  $ZFTP_BMFILE; if not set when one of the two
       functions is called, it will be set to the file .zfbkmarks in  the  di-
       rectory where your zsh startup files live (usually ~).

       zfmark [ bookmark ]
              If  given an argument, mark the current host, user and directory
              under the name bookmark for later use by zfgoto.  If there is no
              connection  open, use the values for the last connection immedi-
              ately before it was closed; it is an error if  there  was  none.
              Any  existing  bookmark under the same name will be silently re-
              placed.

              If not given an argument, list the existing  bookmarks  and  the
              points to which they refer in the form user@host:directory; this
              is the format in which they are stored,  and  the  file  may  be
              edited directly.

       zfgoto [ -n ] bookmark
              Return  to  the location given by bookmark, as previously set by
              zfmark.  If the location has user `ftp' or `anonymous', open the
              connection with zfanon, so that no password is required.  If the
              user and host parameters match those stored for the current ses-
              sion,  if  any, those will be used, and again no password is re-
              quired.  Otherwise a password will be prompted for.

              With the option -n, the bookmark  is  taken  to  be  a  nickname
              stored  by  the ncftp program in its bookmark file, which is as-
              sumed to be ~/.ncftp/bookmarks.  The function works  identically
              in  other  ways.   Note that there is no mechanism for adding or
              modifying ncftp bookmarks from the zftp functions.

   Other functions
       Mostly, these  functions  will  not  be  called  directly  (apart  from
       zfinit),  but are described here for completeness.  You may wish to al-
       ter zftp_chpwd and zftp_progress, in particular.

       zfinit [ -n ]
              As described above, this is used to initialize the zftp function
              system.  The -n option should be used if the zftp command is al-
              ready built into the shell.

       zfautocheck [ -dn ]
              This function is called to implement automatic reopening  behav-
              iour,  as  described in more detail below.  The options must ap-
              pear in the first argument; -n prevents the command from  chang-
              ing  to the old directory, while -d prevents it from setting the
              variable do_close, which it otherwise does as a flag  for  auto-
              matically closing the connection after a transfer.  The host and
              directory for the  last  session  are  stored  in  the  variable
              $zflastsession,  but  the internal host/user/password parameters
              must also be correctly set.

       zfcd_match prefix suffix
              This performs matching for completion of remote directory names.
              If  the  remote  server is UNIX, it will attempt to persuade the
              server to list the remote directory with subdirectories  marked,
              which  usually  works  but is not guaranteed.  On other hosts it
              simply calls zfget_match and hence completes all files, not just
              directories.   On  some  systems,  directories may not even look
              like filenames.

       zfget_match prefix suffix
              This performs matching for completion of remote  filenames.   It
              caches  files  for the current directory (only) in the shell pa-
              rameter $zftp_fcache.  It is in the form to be called by the  -K
              option  of  compctl,  but  also  works  when  called from a wid-
              get-style completion function with prefix and suffix set  appro-
              priately.

       zfrglob varname
              Perform  remote  globbing,  as  describes  in more detail below.
              varname is the name of a variable containing the pattern  to  be
              expanded;  if  there were any matches, the same variable will be
              set to the expanded set of filenames on return.

       zfrtime lfile rfile [ time ]
              Set the local file lfile to have the same modification  time  as
              the  remote  file rfile, or the explicit time time in FTP format
              CCYYMMDDhhmmSS for the GMT  timezone.   This  uses  the  shell's
              zsh/datetime  module to perform the conversion from GMT to local
              time.

       zftp_chpwd
              This function is called every time a connection  is  opened,  or
              closed,  or  the  remote directory changes.  This version alters
              the title bar of an xterm-compatible or sun-cmd terminal  emula-
              tor to reflect the local and remote hostnames and current direc-
              tories.  It works best when combined with  the  function  chpwd.
              In particular, a function of the form

                     chpwd() {
                       if [[ -n $ZFTP_USER ]]; then
                         zftp_chpwd
                       else
                         # usual chpwd e.g put host:directory in title bar
                       fi
                     }

              fits in well.

       zftp_progress
              This  function  shows  the  status of the transfer.  It will not
              write anything unless the output is going to  a  terminal;  how-
              ever,  if  you transfer files in the background, you should turn
              off progress reports by hand using  `zstyle  ':zftp:*'  progress
              none'.   Note  also  that if you alter it, any output must be to
              standard error, as standard output may be a file being received.
              The  form  of  the progress meter, or whether it is used at all,
              can be configured without altering the function, as described in
              the next section.

       zffcache
              This is used to implement caching of files in the current direc-
              tory for each session separately.  It is used by zfget_match and
              zfrglob.

MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
   Configuration
       Various  styles are available using the standard shell style mechanism,
       described in zshmodules(1).  Briefly,  the  command  `zstyle  ':zftp:*'
       style value ...'.  defines the style to have value value; more than one
       value may be given, although that is not useful in the cases  described
       here.  These values will then be used throughout the zftp function sys-
       tem.  For more precise control, the first argument, which gives a  con-
       text  in which the style applies, can be modified to include a particu-
       lar function, as for example `:zftp:zfget': the style  will  then  have
       the  given value only in the zfget function.  Values for the same style
       in different contexts may be set; the most specific  function  will  be
       used,  where  strings  are  held to be more specific than patterns, and
       longer patterns and shorter patterns.  Note that  only  the  top  level
       function  name,  as called by the user, is used; calling of lower level
       functions is transparent to the user.  Hence modifications to the title
       bar  in zftp_chpwd use the contexts :zftp:zfopen, :zftp:zfcd, etc., de-
       pending where it was called from.  The following styles are understood:

       progress
              Controls the way that zftp_progress reports on the progress of a
              transfer.   If  empty,  unset,  or `none', no progress report is
              made; if `bar' a growing bar of inverse video is shown; if `per-
              cent'  (or  any other string, though this may change in future),
              the percentage of the file transferred is shown.  The bar  meter
              requires  that  the  width  of the terminal be available via the
              $COLUMNS parameter (normally this is set automatically).  If the
              size  of  the  file  being transferred is not available, bar and
              percent meters will simply show the number of bytes  transferred
              so far.

              When zfinit is run, if this style is not defined for the context
              :zftp:*, it will be set to `bar'.

       update Specifies the minimum  time  interval  between  updates  of  the
              progress  meter  in  seconds.  No update is made unless new data
              has been received, so the actual time interval is  limited  only
              by $ZFTP_TIMEOUT.

              As  described for progress, zfinit will force this to default to
              1.

       remote-glob
              If set to `1', `yes' or `true', filename  generation  (globbing)
              is performed on the remote machine instead of by zsh itself; see
              below.

       titlebar
              If set to `1', `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will put  the  remote
              host  and  remote directory into the titlebar of terminal emula-
              tors such as xterm or sun-cmd that allow this.

              As described for progress, zfinit will force this to default  to
              1.

       chpwd  If set to `1' `yes' or `true', zftp_chpwd will call the function
              chpwd when a connection is closed.  This is useful if the remote
              host  details were put into the terminal title bar by zftp_chpwd
              and your usual chpwd also modifies the title bar.

              When zfinit is run, it will determine whether chpwd  exists  and
              if  so  it will set the default value for the style to 1 if none
              exists already.

       Note that there is also an associative array  zfconfig  which  contains
       values  used  by  the  function system.  This should not be modified or
       overwritten.

   Remote globbing
       The commands for retrieving files usually perform  filename  generation
       (globbing)  on  their  arguments; this can be turned off by passing the
       option -G to each of the commands.  Normally this operates by  retriev-
       ing a complete list of files for the directory in question, then match-
       ing these locally against the pattern supplied.  This has the advantage
       that  the full range of zsh patterns (respecting the setting of the op-
       tion EXTENDED_GLOB) can be used.  However, it means that the  directory
       part  of a filename will not be expanded and must be given exactly.  If
       the remote server does not support the UNIX directory semantics, direc-
       tory  handling  is problematic and it is recommended that globbing only
       be used within the current directory.  The list of files in the current
       directory,  if  retrieved,  will be cached, so that subsequent globs in
       the same directory without an intervening zfcd are much faster.

       If the remote-glob style (see above) is set, globbing is  instead  per-
       formed  on  the remote host: the server is asked for a list of matching
       files.  This is highly dependent on  how  the  server  is  implemented,
       though  typically UNIX servers will provide support for basic glob pat-
       terns.  This may in some cases be faster, as it avoids  retrieving  the
       entire list of directory contents.

   Automatic and temporary reopening
       As described for the zfopen command, a subsequent zfopen with no param-
       eters will reopen the connection to the last host (this  includes  con-
       nections  made  with  the zfanon command).  Opened in this fashion, the
       connection starts in the default remote directory and will remain  open
       until explicitly closed.

       Automatic  re-opening  is  also available.  If a connection is not cur-
       rently open and a command requiring a connection  is  given,  the  last
       connection  is  implicitly  reopened.  In this case the directory which
       was current when the connection was closed again  becomes  the  current
       directory (unless, of course, the command given changes it).  Automatic
       reopening will also take place if the connection was close by  the  re-
       mote  server for whatever reason (e.g. a timeout).  It is not available
       if the -1 option to zfopen or zfanon was used.

       Furthermore, if the command issued is a file transfer,  the  connection
       will  be  closed  after  the  transfer  is  finished, hence providing a
       one-shot mode for transfers.  This does not apply to directory changing
       or  listing  commands;  for example a zfdir may reopen a connection but
       will leave it open.  Also, automatic closure will only ever  happen  in
       the same command as automatic opening, i.e a zfdir directly followed by
       a zfget will never close the connection automatically.

       Information about the previous connection is given by the zfstat  func-
       tion.  So, for example, if that reports:

              Session:        default
              Not connected.
              Last session:   ftp.bar.com:/pub/textfiles

       then  the command zfget file.txt will attempt to reopen a connection to
       ftp.bar.com, retrieve the file /pub/textfiles/file.txt, and immediately
       close  the connection again.  On the other hand, zfcd ..  will open the
       connection in the directory /pub and leave it open.

       Note that all the above is local to each session; if you  return  to  a
       previous session, the connection for that session is the one which will
       be reopened.

   Completion
       Completion of local and remote files, directories, sessions  and  book-
       marks  is  supported.   The  older, compctl-style completion is defined
       when zfinit is called; support for the new widget-based completion sys-
       tem  is  provided  in  the function Completion/Zsh/Command/_zftp, which
       should be installed with the other functions of the  completion  system
       and hence should automatically be available.

zsh 5.8                        February 14, 2020                 ZSHZFTPSYS(1)

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