View source for How to use the SCP command to transfer files

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|description=In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to use the SCP command with examples and detailed explanations on all of the SCP options.
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If you use SSH on your server, it is possible to securely transfer and copy files and directories from your local machine onto a remote machine using the <code>scp</code> command line tool. SCP stands for ''Secure Copy Protocol'' and it can be used to:

*Copy files from your local system to a remote system
*Copy files from a remote system to your local system
*Copy files between two remote systems from your local system

<code>scp</code> is by default bundled with nearly every Linux distribution, as well as most BSD distributions and modern versions of Windows 10.

When transferring files with <code>scp</code>, both the file and password are encrypted so it is impossible for anyone looking at network traffic to view the file or password.

==Command syntax==
By default, the SCP tool assumes you are using port <code>22</code>, unless you specify a command-line option. The SCP command line syntax is laid out like this:

<pre>scp [OPTIONS] [SOURCE] [DESTINATION]</pre>

<code>[OPTIONS]</code> - Any options you want to specify go here. This is where the options for SSH ports, recursive copying, etc, go. The [https://linux.die.net/man/1/scp man page] has a full list.

<code>[SOURCE]</code> - The name of the source file.

<code>[DESTINATION]</code> - The name of the destination file.

Some example options are:
<code>-P</code> - The destination server's ssh host port. If you changed the ssh port on your host, use this to specify the port. Otherwise, you don't need it.

<code>-p</code> - Preserves file modification and access times.

<code>-q</code> - "Quiet mode", this will hide the progress meter and non-error messages.

<code>-C</code> - Forces <code>scp</code> to compress the data as it sends it to the destination machine.

<code>-r</code> - Copies recursively.

Local files can be specified using an absolute or relative path whereas remote file names need a user and host specification.

==Copying a Local File to a Remote System with scp==
Here is a basic example command showing how to copy a file from a remote host to a local host:
<pre>scp path/to/local-file.ext user@destination-host:path/to/server/remote-file.ext</pre>

This command will copy the file <code>path/to/local-file.ext</code> to <code>path/to/server/remote-file.ext</code> on the destination server, which is named <code>destination-host</code>. We also specify a user account named <code>user</code>. Note that the user account must have permission to the remote path specified in the command. It will also need ssh access - if you can't login to the account through ssh, scp will not work!

When executing the command, a prompt will be displayed requesting the password for the destination server's user account:

<pre>user@destination-host's password:</pre>

Once entered, the file will begin copying. Unless you specified <code>-q</code>, <code>scp</code> should display its progress:

<pre>user@destination-host's password:
file.ext                             100%    0     0.0KB/s   00:00
</pre>

==Copying a Remote File to a Local System with scp==
To copy a file from a remote machine to your local machine, the command is very similar. To do so, execute this command:
<pre>scp user@destination-host:path/to/file.ext path/to/local-file.ext</pre>

This command works in the exact same way, except now, the remote user, host, and path are specified before the local path.

==Copying a Remote File to a Remote Destination with scp==
You can also use <code>scp</code> to copy a file between two remote hosts. The command is like this:
<pre>scp user1@destination-host1:path/to/file.ext user2@destination-host2:path/to/file.ext</pre>

In this case, two remote users need to be specified, and each has to have access to their respective destination servers. A password prompt will be presented for both users.

==Connecting scp to another port==
If SSH on the destination server is running on a port that is not the default <code>22</code>, you can specify the port using the <code>-P</code> argument:

<pre>scp -P 2222 path/to/local-file.ext user@destination-host:path/to/server/remote-file.ext</pre>

In this example, we connect to port <code>2222</code>, but you will change this to whatever port your SSH is running on.

==Copying directories==
If you need to recursively copy folders and their contents, you can specify the <code>-r</code> argument:

<pre>scp -r path/to/local-folder user@destination-host:path/to/remote-folder</pre>

==Using a keypair file==
If your server uses keypair files instead of passwords, you can use your keypair file to connect using the <code>-i</code> argument. These are most common on remote cloud servers, but more configured servers typically use them.

You can specify a keypair file like this:

<pre>scp -i path/to/keypair.pem path/to/local-file.ext user@destination-host:path/to/remote-file.ext</pre>

If your keypair file requires a password, it will be presented.

==Using multiple SCP options==
You can also specify multiple arguments with SCP. The following command will copy a folder from a remote host to a local machine, using a keypair file, connecting to port <code>2222</code>, while preserving file properties and suppressing output:

<pre>scp -p -q -P 2222 -i path/to/local/keypair.pem -r path/to/local-folder user@remote-host:path/to/remote-folder</pre>

You should now be ready to use SCP!

[[Category:Tutorials]]