Linux and Unix scp command
Quick links
About scp
Syntax
Examples
Related commands
Linux and Unix main page
scp - secure copy (remote file copy program).
scp [-1246BCpqrv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] -S program] [[user@]host1:]file1 [...] [[user@]host2:]file2
| -1 | Forces scp to use protocol 1. |
| -2 | Forces scp to use protocol 2. |
| -4 | Forces scp to use IPv4 addresses only. |
| -6 | Forces scp to use IPv6 addresses only. |
| -B | Selects batch mode (prevents asking for passwords or passphrases). |
| -C | Compression enable. Passes the -C flag to ssh(1) to enable compression. |
| -c cipher | Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer. This option is directly passed to ssh. |
| -F ssh_config | Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh. This option is directly passed to ssh. |
| -i identity_file | Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for RSA authentication is read. This option is directly passed to ssh. |
| -l limit | Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s. |
| -o ssh_option | Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in ssh_config. This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate scp command-line flag. For full details of the options listed below, and their possible values, see ssh_config. AddressFamily |
| -P port | Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host. Note that this option is written with a capital 'P', because -p is already reserved for preserving the times and modes of the file in rcp. |
| -p | Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file. |
| -q | Disables the progress meter. |
| -r | Recursively copy entire directories. |
| -S program | Name of program to use for the encrypted connection. The program must understand ssh options. |
| -v | Verbose mode. Causes scp and ssh(1) to print debugging messages about their progress. This is helpful in debugging connection, authentication, and configuration problems. |
scp myfile.txt hope@computerhope: myfile.txt
The above example would copy the file myfile.txt to the computerhope server under the name hope.
scp remote:/home/hope/*.
Copy files in the remote machine in the /home/hope directory to your local computer.