How to Download From FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method for transferring files over the Internet. The files are uploaded to, or downloaded from, an FTP server, and an FTP client is used to connect to the FTP server. Every operating system has a text based FTP client installed by default. FTP servers can require a username and password or can allow anonymous access.

Instructions

1. Open a command prompt window in Windows or terminal window in Linux.

2. Type the command "ftp username@hostname" to log into the FTP server. Replace "username" for your user name on the FTP server, and replace "hostname" with the host name of the FTP server. If the server allows anonymous FTP access, type "ftp anonymous@hostname" and press "Enter."

3. Type the command "get filename" to download a single file. Replace "filename" with the name of the file that you want to download.

4. Type the command "mget filea fileb filec" to download multiple files. Replace "filea," "fileb" and "filec" with the correct name of the files. You can list as many files as you want. To download all the files in a directory, type "mget *" and press "Enter."

Tips & Warnings

• You can also use graphical FTP clients such as WinSCP, FileZilla or CuteFTP to download files.

References

• Dave Lozinski: The Basics of FTP

Resources

• WinSCP
• FileZilla
• CuteFTP