File: inetutils.info,  Node: File naming conventions,  Next: File transfer parameters,  Prev: Aborting a file transfer,  Up: ftp invocation

11.5 File naming conventions
============================

Files specified as arguments to 'ftp' commands are processed according
to the following rules.

  1. If the file name '-' is specified, standard input (for reading) or
     standard output (for writing) is used.

  2. If the first character of the file name is '|', the remainder of
     the argument is interpreted as a shell command.  'ftp' then forks a
     shell, using 'popen' with the argument supplied, and reads/writes
     from standard input/output.  If the shell command includes spaces,
     the argument must be quoted; e.g.  '"ls -lt"'.

     A particularly useful example of this mechanism in action, is

          ftp> dir . |less

     which allows the user to scroll through a long directory listing.

  3. Failing the above checks, if "globbing" is enabled, local file
     names are expanded according to the rules used by 'csh'; c.f.  the
     'glob' command.  If the 'ftp' command expects a single local file
     (e.g.  'put'), only the first filename generated by the globbing
     operation is used.

  4. For the commands 'mget' and 'get' with unspecified local file name,
     the local file name is set to the remote file name, which may be
     altered by a 'case', 'ntrans', or 'nmap' settings.  The resulting
     file name may then be modified if 'runique' is set.

  5. For the commands 'mput' and 'put' with unspecified remote file
     name, the remote file name is copied from the local file name,
     which may be altered by a 'ntrans' or 'nmap' settings.  The
     resulting file name may also be modified by the remote server if
     'sunique' is set.