Net::FTP

[vaevictus]

Item Description: provides simple OO interface to the File Transfer Protocol

Review Synopsis: basic and useful, a must have.

Net::FTP

Description

Net::FTP, part of the Libnet install, implements RFC959, the FTP protocol.

Who should use it?

• Anyone wishing to transfer files to an FTP server
• Anyone wishing to transfer data from STDIN to an FTP server
• New Perl Scripters who need to practice with OO interfaces

What are the drawbacks or problems?

• It does not allow you to upload scalar data as a file
• It does not allow you to use streams other than STDIN

Example

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use Net::FTP;

my $destserv="ftp.perlmonks.org";
my $destuser="root";
my $destpass="joph";
my $file="yourmom.jpg";


$ftp = Net::FTP->new($destserv) or die "error connecting\n";
$ftp->login($destuser,$destpass);
$ftp->binary();
$ftp->get($file) or die "error downloading\n";
$ftp->quit();

[grantm]

When a Net::FTP operation fails, you really want to get the error details so you know what failed. It always takes me a while to find the details in the Net::FTP docs so I thought I'd post here:

Initial Connection: the connection is established when you create the object. If the connect fails, new() will return undef and the error message will be in $@:

my $ftp = Net::FTP->new($destserv) ||
  die "Connect to $destserv failed: $@";

Commands: if a command fails, the method return value will be undef. The error message can be accessed using the 'message()' method. If you're checking for a particular message, you might be better off using the 'code()' method to get the three digit FTP protocol status code which preceded the message:

$ftp->get($file) ||
  die "get($file) failed: " . $ftp->code() . ": " . $ftp->message();

[mikeock]

When using this module. I cannot get the pwd command to work.

I am connected to an ftp server and am trying to use $ftp->pwd() and I get nothing in return. Is this dumping to a default variable that I am missing or is this really a bug?

[marto]

Hi,

If you are following the above code try something like :

#!/usr/bin/perl 
use Net::FTP;
my $destserv="ftp.myhost.com";
my $destuser="username";
my $destpass="password";

$ftp = Net::FTP->new($destserv) or die "error connecting\n";
$ftp->login($destuser,$destpass);
my $mypath = $ftp->pwd();
$ftp->quit();
print "FTP Path: $mypath";

Keep in mind that this is untested, its late and I am seriously sleep deprived.
Have you checked out the documentation? There is a link to examples you can also have a look at.

Hope this helps

Martin

[ATaylor]

One can also use the command:

$ftp->delete($file) or die "Error in delete\n";

If you would like to delete the file from FTP server. Aaron Taylor

[mjolnir]

One FAQ I get a lot is how to make Net::FTP do mget/mput. I suggest the following:

foreach my $file (@files)
{
    # Or get...
    $ftp->put($file) or die "Error putting $file: ", $ftp->message;
}

[pinetree]

Or, if you want to attempt to put/get all of your files - store the errors in a scalar or array and die/log them after looping through @files:

my @errors = ();
foreach my $file (@files)
{
    # Or get...
    $ftp->put($file) or push (@errors, ("Error putting $file: " . $ftp
+->message));
}
die (join "\n", @errors);

[Anonymous Monk]

How do you define @files?

[Anonymous Monk]

I'm trying to do a GET on files that match a certain pattern. I don't see where the Net::FTP function support like 'mget' etc. I only see 'get'. Any ideas on how this could be implemented? Paul Menard

[pfaut]

You can implement mget by getting a list of files with 'ls', searching the files you want by passing the returned list through perl's 'grep' and performing a 'get' on the resulting list. Something like the following (untested):

    $ftp->get($_) for grep /\.txt$/, $ftp->ls;

---
print map { my ($m)=1<<hex($_)&11?' ':'';
$m.=substr('AHJPacehklnorstu',hex($_),1) }
split //,'2fde0abe76c36c914586c';

[brycen]

Is there any way to avoid a temporary file in the case where the perl script itself creates the data, e.g. something like:

$ftp->login("perl",'monk');
$ftp->put("fh.txt", <FH>);
print FH qq(a,b,c,d);
$ftp->quit;

And, if not, are there other perl ftp clients worth installing?

[Hue-Bond]

DISCLAIMER: I haven't ever used Net::FTP.

You can open scalars (v5.8.0 required) by passing a reference to that scalar to open:

my $pseudo_file = "line1\nline2\n";
open my $rfd, '<', \$pseudo_file or die "open1: $!";
open my $wfd, '>', 'foo' or die "open2: $!";
print $wfd $_ while <$rfd>;      ## or 'print $wfd (<$rfd>);' if file 
+isn't large
close $wfd;
close $rfd;

So, according to the Net::FTP doc, I'd change your code to:

open my $fh, '<', \$pseudo_file_already_generated or die "open: $!";
$ftp->login("perl",'monk') or die "blah";
$ftp->put($fh, 'fh.txt') or warn "blah";
$ftp->quit;

Update: Better english.

[Anonymous Monk]

Hi,

I am trying to implement this $ftp->login.
But if the login is unsuccessful, I am getting the following error message and program gets terminated.


Uncaught exception from user code:
        Cannot login Login incorrect.


Is there any way to catch / handle this unsuccessful login, so that the program can continue?