SCP Like a Boss

How to send and retrieve Files with SCP

Basics

scp copies files over a secure, encrypted network connection. scp stands for “secure copy.” If you are familiar with using the cp command on your local machine, scp is easy to understand.

Send file to Remote :

  scp ~/my_local_file.txt [...] user@remote_host.com:/pathToRemoteDirectory

Send file across 2 remote hosts

  scp user1@remotehost1:/some/remote/dir/foobar.txt user2@remotehost2:/some/remote/dir/

Retrieve file from Remote :

  scp user@remote_host.com:/pathToRemoteDirectory/remotefile ~/my_local_file.txt

Directory

 scp -r user@remote_host.com:/pathToRemoteDirectory/remotefile ~/my_local_file.txt

Options

Port Options

 scp -P 2200

Verbose Options

  scp -v

Bandwith Options

limit 400

  scp rC -l 400

Ssh Options

identity file

  scp -i private_key.pem

ssh_config

  scp -F /home/user/my_ssh_config

Quiet mode Options

  scp -q

For more explanations:

• How to pull a file from a server using scp? on Unix Exchange
• Using scp to transfer files in Linux
• 12 scp command examples to transfer files on Linux