


Net::FTP(3p)     Perl Programmers Reference Guide    Net::FTP(3p)


NAME
       Net::FTP - FTP Client class

SYNOPSIS
           use Net::FTP;

           $ftp = Net::FTP->new("some.host.name", Debug => 0)
             or die "Cannot connect to some.host.name: $@";

           $ftp->login("anonymous",'-anonymous@')
             or die "Cannot login ", $ftp->message;

           $ftp->cwd("/pub")
             or die "Cannot change working directory ", $ftp->message;

           $ftp->get("that.file")
             or die "get failed ", $ftp->message;

           $ftp->quit;

DESCRIPTION
       "Net::FTP" is a class implementing a simple FTP client in
       Perl as described in RFC959.  It provides wrappers for a
       subset of the RFC959 commands.

OVERVIEW
       FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.  It is a way of
       transferring files between networked machines.  The
       protocol defines a client (whose commands are provided by
       this module) and a server (not implemented in this
       module).  Communication is always initiated by the client,
       and the server responds with a message and a status code
       (and sometimes with data).

       The FTP protocol allows files to be sent to or fetched
       from the server.  Each transfer involves a local file (on
       the client) and a remote file (on the server).  In this
       module, the same file name will be used for both local and
       remote if only one is specified.  This means that
       transferring remote file "/path/to/file" will try to put
       that file in "/path/to/file" locally, unless you specify a
       local file name.

       The protocol also defines several standard translations
       which the file can undergo during transfer.  These are
       ASCII, EBCDIC, binary, and byte.  ASCII is the default
       type, and indicates that the sender of files will
       translate the ends of lines to a standard representation
       which the receiver will then translate back into their
       local representation.  EBCDIC indicates the file being
       transferred is in EBCDIC format.  Binary (also known as
       image) format sends the data as a contiguous bit stream.
       Byte format transfers the data as bytes, the values of
       which remain the same regardless of differences in byte



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       size between the two machines (in theory - in practice you
       should only use this if you really know what you're
       doing).

CONSTRUCTOR
       new ([ HOST ] [, OPTIONS ])
           This is the constructor for a new Net::FTP object.
           "HOST" is the name of the remote host to which an FTP
           connection is required.

           "HOST" is optional. If "HOST" is not given then it may
           instead be passed as the "Host" option described
           below.

           "OPTIONS" are passed in a hash like fashion, using key
           and value pairs.  Possible options are:

           Host - FTP host to connect to. It may be a single
           scalar, as defined for the "PeerAddr" option in
           IO::Socket::INET, or a reference to an array with
           hosts to try in turn. The "host" method will return
           the value which was used to connect to the host.

           Firewall - The name of a machine which acts as an FTP
           firewall. This can be overridden by an environment
           variable "FTP_FIREWALL". If specified, and the given
           host cannot be directly connected to, then the
           connection is made to the firewall machine and the
           string @hostname is appended to the login identifier.
           This kind of setup is also referred to as an ftp
           proxy.

           FirewallType - The type of firewall running on the
           machine indicated by Firewall. This can be overridden
           by an environment variable "FTP_FIREWALL_TYPE". For a
           list of permissible types, see the description of
           ftp_firewall_type in Net::Config.

           BlockSize - This is the block size that Net::FTP will
           use when doing transfers. (defaults to 10240)

           Port - The port number to connect to on the remote
           machine for the FTP connection

           Timeout - Set a timeout value (defaults to 120)

           Debug - debug level (see the debug method in Net::Cmd)

           Passive - If set to a non-zero value then all data
           transfers will be done using passive mode. If set to
           zero then data transfers will be done using active
           mode.  If the machine is connected to the Internet
           directly, both passive and active mode should work
           equally well.  Behind most firewall and NAT



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           configurations passive mode has a better chance of
           working.  However, in some rare firewall
           configurations, active mode actually works when
           passive mode doesn't.  Some really old FTP servers
           might not implement passive transfers.  If not
           specified, then the transfer mode is set by the
           environment variable "FTP_PASSIVE" or if that one is
           not set by the settings done by the libnetcfg utility.
           If none of these apply then passive mode is used.

           Hash - If given a reference to a file handle (e.g.,
           "\*STDERR"), print hash marks (#) on that filehandle
           every 1024 bytes.  This simply invokes the "hash()"
           method for you, so that hash marks are displayed for
           all transfers.  You can, of course, call "hash()"
           explicitly whenever you'd like.

           LocalAddr - Local address to use for all socket
           connections, this argument will be passed to
           IO::Socket::INET

           If the constructor fails undef will be returned and an
           error message will be in $@

METHODS
       Unless otherwise stated all methods return either a true
       or false value, with true meaning that the operation was a
       success. When a method states that it returns a value,
       failure will be returned as undef or an empty list.

       login ([LOGIN [,PASSWORD [, ACCOUNT] ] ])
           Log into the remote FTP server with the given login
           information. If no arguments are given then the
           "Net::FTP" uses the "Net::Netrc" package to lookup the
           login information for the connected host.  If no
           information is found then a login of anonymous is
           used.  If no password is given and the login is
           anonymous then anonymous@ will be used for password.

           If the connection is via a firewall then the
           "authorize" method will be called with no arguments.

       authorize ( [AUTH [, RESP]])
           This is a protocol used by some firewall ftp proxies.
           It is used to authorise the user to send data out.  If
           both arguments are not specified then "authorize" uses
           "Net::Netrc" to do a lookup.

       site (ARGS)
           Send a SITE command to the remote server and wait for
           a response.

           Returns most significant digit of the response code.




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       ascii
           Transfer file in ASCII. CRLF translation will be done
           if required

       binary
           Transfer file in binary mode. No transformation will
           be done.

           Hint: If both server and client machines use the same
           line ending for text files, then it will be faster to
           transfer all files in binary mode.

       rename ( OLDNAME, NEWNAME )
           Rename a file on the remote FTP server from "OLDNAME"
           to "NEWNAME". This is done by sending the RNFR and
           RNTO commands.

       delete ( FILENAME )
           Send a request to the server to delete "FILENAME".

       cwd ( [ DIR ] )
           Attempt to change directory to the directory given in
           $dir.  If $dir is "..", the FTP "CDUP" command is used
           to attempt to move up one directory. If no directory
           is given then an attempt is made to change the
           directory to the root directory.

       cdup ()
           Change directory to the parent of the current
           directory.

       pwd ()
           Returns the full pathname of the current directory.

       restart ( WHERE )
           Set the byte offset at which to begin the next data
           transfer. Net::FTP simply records this value and uses
           it when during the next data transfer. For this reason
           this method will not return an error, but setting it
           may cause a subsequent data transfer to fail.

       rmdir ( DIR [, RECURSE ])
           Remove the directory with the name "DIR". If "RECURSE"
           is true then "rmdir" will attempt to delete everything
           inside the directory.

       mkdir ( DIR [, RECURSE ])
           Create a new directory with the name "DIR". If
           "RECURSE" is true then "mkdir" will attempt to create
           all the directories in the given path.

           Returns the full pathname to the new directory.





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       alloc ( SIZE [, RECORD_SIZE] )
           The alloc command allows you to give the ftp server a
           hint about the size of the file about to be
           transferred using the ALLO ftp command. Some storage
           systems use this to make intelligent decisions about
           how to store the file.  The "SIZE" argument represents
           the size of the file in bytes. The "RECORD_SIZE"
           argument indicates a maximum record or page size for
           files sent with a record or page structure.

           The size of the file will be determined, and sent to
           the server automatically for normal files so that this
           method need only be called if you are transferring
           data from a socket, named pipe, or other stream not
           associated with a normal file.

       ls ( [ DIR ] )
           Get a directory listing of "DIR", or the current
           directory.

           In an array context, returns a list of lines returned
           from the server. In a scalar context, returns a
           reference to a list.

       dir ( [ DIR ] )
           Get a directory listing of "DIR", or the current
           directory in long format.

           In an array context, returns a list of lines returned
           from the server. In a scalar context, returns a
           reference to a list.

       get ( REMOTE_FILE [, LOCAL_FILE [, WHERE]] )
           Get "REMOTE_FILE" from the server and store locally.
           "LOCAL_FILE" may be a filename or a filehandle. If not
           specified, the file will be stored in the current
           directory with the same leafname as the remote file.

           If "WHERE" is given then the first "WHERE" bytes of
           the file will not be transferred, and the remaining
           bytes will be appended to the local file if it already
           exists.

           Returns "LOCAL_FILE", or the generated local file name
           if "LOCAL_FILE" is not given. If an error was
           encountered undef is returned.

       put ( LOCAL_FILE [, REMOTE_FILE ] )
           Put a file on the remote server. "LOCAL_FILE" may be a
           name or a filehandle.  If "LOCAL_FILE" is a filehandle
           then "REMOTE_FILE" must be specified. If "REMOTE_FILE"
           is not specified then the file will be stored in the
           current directory with the same leafname as
           "LOCAL_FILE".



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           Returns "REMOTE_FILE", or the generated remote
           filename if "REMOTE_FILE" is not given.

           NOTE: If for some reason the transfer does not
           complete and an error is returned then the contents
           that had been transferred will not be remove
           automatically.

       put_unique ( LOCAL_FILE [, REMOTE_FILE ] )
           Same as put but uses the "STOU" command.

           Returns the name of the file on the server.

       append ( LOCAL_FILE [, REMOTE_FILE ] )
           Same as put but appends to the file on the remote
           server.

           Returns "REMOTE_FILE", or the generated remote
           filename if "REMOTE_FILE" is not given.

       unique_name ()
           Returns the name of the last file stored on the server
           using the "STOU" command.

       mdtm ( FILE )
           Returns the modification time of the given file

       size ( FILE )
           Returns the size in bytes for the given file as stored
           on the remote server.

           NOTE: The size reported is the size of the stored file
           on the remote server.  If the file is subsequently
           transferred from the server in ASCII mode and the
           remote server and local machine have different ideas
           about "End Of Line" then the size of file on the local
           machine after transfer may be different.

       supported ( CMD )
           Returns TRUE if the remote server supports the given
           command.

       hash ( [FILEHANDLE_GLOB_REF],[ BYTES_PER_HASH_MARK] )
           Called without parameters, or with the first argument
           false, hash marks are suppressed.  If the first
           argument is true but not a reference to a file handle
           glob, then \*STDERR is used.  The second argument is
           the number of bytes per hash mark printed, and
           defaults to 1024.  In all cases the return value is a
           reference to an array of two:  the filehandle glob
           reference and the bytes per hash mark.

       feature ( NAME )
           Determine if the server supports the specified



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           feature. The return value is a list of lines the
           server responded with to describe the options that it
           supports for the given feature. If the feature is
           unsupported then the empty list is returned.

             if ($ftp->feature( 'MDTM' )) {
               # Do something
             }

             if (grep { /\bTLS\b/ } $ftp->feature('AUTH')) {
               # Server supports TLS
             }

       The following methods can return different results
       depending on how they are called. If the user explicitly
       calls either of the "pasv" or "port" methods then these
       methods will return a true or false value. If the user
       does not call either of these methods then the result will
       be a reference to a "Net::FTP::dataconn" based object.

       nlst ( [ DIR ] )
           Send an "NLST" command to the server, with an optional
           parameter.

       list ( [ DIR ] )
           Same as "nlst" but using the "LIST" command

       retr ( FILE )
           Begin the retrieval of a file called "FILE" from the
           remote server.

       stor ( FILE )
           Tell the server that you wish to store a file. "FILE"
           is the name of the new file that should be created.

       stou ( FILE )
           Same as "stor" but using the "STOU" command. The name
           of the unique file which was created on the server
           will be available via the "unique_name" method after
           the data connection has been closed.

       appe ( FILE )
           Tell the server that we want to append some data to
           the end of a file called "FILE". If this file does not
           exist then create it.

       If for some reason you want to have complete control over
       the data connection, this includes generating it and
       calling the "response" method when required, then the user
       can use these methods to do so.

       However calling these methods only affects the use of the
       methods above that can return a data connection. They have
       no effect on methods "get", "put", "put_unique" and those



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       that do not require data connections.

       port ( [ PORT ] )
           Send a "PORT" command to the server. If "PORT" is
           specified then it is sent to the server. If not, then
           a listen socket is created and the correct information
           sent to the server.

       pasv ()
           Tell the server to go into passive mode. Returns the
           text that represents the port on which the server is
           listening, this text is in a suitable form to sent to
           another ftp server using the "port" method.

       The following methods can be used to transfer files
       between two remote servers, providing that these two
       servers can connect directly to each other.

       pasv_xfer ( SRC_FILE, DEST_SERVER [, DEST_FILE ] )
           This method will do a file transfer between two remote
           ftp servers. If "DEST_FILE" is omitted then the leaf
           name of "SRC_FILE" will be used.

       pasv_xfer_unique ( SRC_FILE, DEST_SERVER [, DEST_FILE ] )
           Like "pasv_xfer" but the file is stored on the remote
           server using the STOU command.

       pasv_wait ( NON_PASV_SERVER )
           This method can be used to wait for a transfer to
           complete between a passive server and a non-passive
           server. The method should be called on the passive
           server with the "Net::FTP" object for the non-passive
           server passed as an argument.

       abort ()
           Abort the current data transfer.

       quit ()
           Send the QUIT command to the remote FTP server and
           close the socket connection.

   Methods for the adventurous
       "Net::FTP" inherits from "Net::Cmd" so methods defined in
       "Net::Cmd" may be used to send commands to the remote FTP
       server.

       quot (CMD [,ARGS])
           Send a command, that Net::FTP does not directly
           support, to the remote server and wait for a response.

           Returns most significant digit of the response code.

           WARNING This call should only be used on commands that
           do not require data connections. Misuse of this method



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           can hang the connection.

THE dataconn CLASS
       Some of the methods defined in "Net::FTP" return an object
       which will be derived from this class.The dataconn class
       itself is derived from the "IO::Socket::INET" class, so
       any normal IO operations can be performed.  However the
       following methods are defined in the dataconn class and IO
       should be performed using these.

       read ( BUFFER, SIZE [, TIMEOUT ] )
           Read "SIZE" bytes of data from the server and place it
           into "BUFFER", also performing any <CRLF> translation
           necessary. "TIMEOUT" is optional, if not given, the
           timeout value from the command connection will be
           used.

           Returns the number of bytes read before any <CRLF>
           translation.

       write ( BUFFER, SIZE [, TIMEOUT ] )
           Write "SIZE" bytes of data from "BUFFER" to the
           server, also performing any <CRLF> translation
           necessary. "TIMEOUT" is optional, if not given, the
           timeout value from the command connection will be
           used.

           Returns the number of bytes written before any <CRLF>
           translation.

       bytes_read ()
           Returns the number of bytes read so far.

       abort ()
           Abort the current data transfer.

       close ()
           Close the data connection and get a response from the
           FTP server. Returns true if the connection was closed
           successfully and the first digit of the response from
           the server was a '2'.

UNIMPLEMENTED
       The following RFC959 commands have not been implemented:

       SMNT
           Mount a different file system structure without
           changing login or accounting information.

       HELP
           Ask the server for "helpful information" (that's what
           the RFC says) on the commands it accepts.





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       MODE
           Specifies transfer mode (stream, block or compressed)
           for file to be transferred.

       SYST
           Request remote server system identification.

       STAT
           Request remote server status.

       STRU
           Specifies file structure for file to be transferred.

       REIN
           Reinitialize the connection, flushing all I/O and
           account information.

REPORTING BUGS
       When reporting bugs/problems please include as much
       information as possible.  It may be difficult for me to
       reproduce the problem as almost every setup is different.

       A small script which yields the problem will probably be
       of help. It would also be useful if this script was run
       with the extra options "Debug =" 1> passed to the
       constructor, and the output sent with the bug report. If
       you cannot include a small script then please include a
       Debug trace from a run of your program which does yield
       the problem.

AUTHOR
       Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>

SEE ALSO
       Net::Netrc Net::Cmd

       ftp(1), ftpd(8), RFC 959
       http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc959.html

USE EXAMPLES
       For an example of the use of Net::FTP see

       http://www.csh.rit.edu/~adam/Progs/
           "autoftp" is a program that can retrieve, send, or
           list files via the FTP protocol in a non-interactive
           manner.

CREDITS
       Henry Gabryjelski <henryg@WPI.EDU> - for the suggestion of
       creating directories recursively.

       Nathan Torkington <gnat@frii.com> - for some input on the
       documentation.




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       Roderick Schertler <roderick@gate.net> - for various
       inputs

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1995-2004 Graham Barr. All rights reserved.
       This program is free software; you can redistribute it
       and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.


















































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