How to download a file via FTP with Python ftplib

Question

I have the following code which easily connects to the FTP server and opens a zip file. I want to download that file into the local system. How to do that?

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Answer 1

Please note if you are downloading from the FTP to your local, you will need to use the following:

with open( filename, 'wb' ) as file :
        ftp.retrbinary('RETR %s' % filename, file.write)

Otherwise, the script will at your local file storage rather than the FTP.

I spent a few hours making the mistake myself.

Script below:

import ftplib

# Open the FTP connection
ftp = ftplib.FTP()
ftp.cwd('/where/files-are/located')


filenames = ftp.nlst()

for filename in filenames:

    with open( filename, 'wb' ) as file :
        ftp.retrbinary('RETR %s' % filename, file.write)

        file.close()

ftp.quit()