How to recursively download a folder via FTP on Linux [closed]

Answer 1

You should not use ftp. Like telnet it is not using secure protocols, and passwords are transmitted in clear text. This makes it very easy for third parties to capture your username and password.

To copy remote directories remotely, these options are better:

• rsync is the best-suited tool if you can login via ssh, because it copies only the differences, and can easily restart in the middle in case the connection breaks.

• ssh -r is the second-best option to recursively copy directory structures.

See:

• rsync man page

• ssh man page

Answer 2

If you want to stick to command line FTP, you should try NcFTP. Then you can use get -R to recursively get a folder. You will also get completion.

Answer 3

Just to complement the answer given by Thibaut Barrère.

I used

wget -r -nH --cut-dirs=5 -nc ftp://user:pass@server//absolute/path/to/directory

Note the double slash after the server name. If you don't put an extra slash the path is relative to the home directory of user.

• -nH avoids the creation of a directory named after the server name
• -nc avoids creating a new file if it already exists on the destination (it is just skipped)
• --cut-dirs=5 allows to take the content of /absolute/path/to/directory and to put it in the directory where you launch wget. The number 5 is used to filter out the 5 components of the path. The double slash means an extra component.

Answer 4

You could rely on wget which usually handles ftp get properly (at least in my own experience). For example:

wget -r ftp://user:pass@server.com/

You can also use -m which is suitable for mirroring. It is currently equivalent to -r -N -l inf.

If you've some special characters in the credential details, you can specify the --user and --password arguments to get it to work. Example with custom login with specific characters:

wget -r --user="user@login" --password="Pa$$wo|^D" ftp://server.com/

EDIT As pointed out by @asmaier, watch out that even if -r is for recursion, it has a default max level of 5:

       -r
       --recursive
           Turn on recursive retrieving.

       -l depth
       --level=depth
           Specify recursion maximum depth level depth.  The default maximum depth is 5.

If you don't want to miss out subdirs, better use the mirroring option, -m:

       -m
       --mirror
           Turn on options suitable for mirroring.  This option turns on recursion and time-stamping, sets infinite
           recursion depth and keeps FTP directory listings.  It is currently equivalent to -r -N -l inf
           --no-remove-listing.

Answer 5

wget -r ftp://url

Work perfectly for Redhat and Ubuntu

Answer 6

Use WGet instead. It supports HTTP and FTP protocols.

wget -r ftp://mydomain.com/mystuff

Good Luck!

reference: http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_wget.htm