Using FTP Clients

OVERVIEW OF DOWNLOAD PROCESS

1. FTP file(s) to hard disk
2. Decompress files (if needed)
3. Virus check

STEPS OF FTP PROCESS

1. Identify FTP address
2. Login to server
3. DIR, CD to move around to find files
4. Identify mode of file transfer as ASCII or BIN (most common error)
5. GET files
6. QUIT

SKILLS FOR USING FTP CLIENTS

• Logging in
• Navigating
• Changing directories
• Setting transfer modes to BIN or ASCII (TEXT)
• Transferring files
• Transferring multiple files
• Making bookmarks and shortcuts
• Closing session

BASIC FTP COMMANDS

open or ftp [host name or IP address]

Open connection to the host name or IP address given

user

Restart the login process to the remote FTP site by providing an FTP login prompt

help or ?

Get help on the FTP program

dir or ls

List out the contents of a directory

mkdir [directory_name]

Make directory called directory_name

cd [directory_name]

Change to the directory specified by directory_name

cdup

Change directory to one level up in the hierarchy

lcd [directory_name]

Change to specified local directory_name on your own hard disk

ascii (asc) or text

Change mode to text or ASCII transfer mode

binary (bin)

Change mode to binary transfer mode

get [remote_file_name local_file_name]

Get file with matching file_name and transfer it to your local hard disk naming it local_file_name

put [local_file_name remote_file_name]

Put file with matching local_file_name from your own hard disk and transfer it to a remote hard disk naming it remote_file_name

mget [file_names]

Get multiple files and transfer them to your local computer at the same time

mput [file_names]

Put multiple files to a remote computer at the same time

delete [file_name]

Delete file called file_name

rename [old_file_name new_file_name]

Rename file from old_file_name to new_file_name

quit or bye

Leave the FTP program and return to the operating system prompt

HINTS AND TROUBLESHOOTING

Funny-Looking Files

If your files look funny or don't decompress correctly, you probably transferred the file in the wrong mode. Compressed files, for instance, must be transferred in the BIN (binary) mode. A way to test this is to transfer the file to your hard disk using both ASCII and BIN modes (using different file names of course) and compare the results.

File Naming Conventions

When transferring files across different operating systems like Unix and DOS, for example, name files without spaces. For cross-platform transfers, use 7+3 characters for file names. Pay attention to upper and lower case letters in file names; Unix systems care about this; VMS and DOS do not.

Finding Out What a Directory Contains

Use READMEs (often at top of directories) to identify file contents and descriptions before downloading.

COMMON FILE TYPES AND EXTENSIONS

Text Files

Readable text
Program code in languages like C or Pascal
Postscript text to be interpreted by a printer

Executable Files

Programs that can be run on a computer

Archived and Compressed Files

Archives contain multiple files stored together like papers in a folder.

Data Files

Files that contain data about documents like images, spreadsheets, and word processing files.

COMMON FILE EXTENSIONS

.txt                  ASCII text file
.doc                  Word 
.xls                  Excel 
.mbf                  Access 
.ppt                  PowerPoint 
.pm5                  PageMaker 5
.psf                  PhotoShop 
.html or .htm         HTML files 
.tif                  Image file
.gif                  Image file
.jpg                  Image file
.mov                  QuickTime movie file
.pdf                  Adobe portable document file
.exe                  DOS/Windows executable file binary
.ps or .psc           PostScript file (laser printer) ASCII

HELP AND TUTORIALS ON FTP CLIENTS