How to TransferFiles via SSH / SCP

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Secure Copy (scp)

Just as all modern Unix-like systems have an SSH client, they also have SCP and SFTP clients. To copy a file from your computer to another computer with ssh, go to a command-line and type:

scp <file> <username>@<IP address or hostname>:<Destination>

For example, to copy your TPS Reports to Joe’s Desktop:

scp "TPS Reports.odw" joe@laptop:Desktop/

This will copy TPS Reports.odw to /home/joe/Desktop, because SCP uses your home folder as the destination unless the destination folder begins with a ‘/’.

To copy the pictures from your holiday to your website, you could do:

scp -r /media/disk/summer_pics/ [email protected]:"/var/www/Summer 2008/"

The -r (recursive) option means to copy the whole folder and any sub-folders. You can also copy files the other way:

scp -r [email protected]:/home/catbert/evil_plans/ .

The ‘.’ means to copy the file to the current directory. Alternatively, you could use secret_plans instead of ‘.’, and the folder would be renamed.

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