[ Synopsis ] [ Description ] [ Options ] [ Authors ] [ Derivation ] [ See also ]

scp - secure copy

Synopsis

scp [-prvC] [-P port] [-c cipher] [-i identity] [[user@]host1:]filename1... [[user@]host2:]filename2

Scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses ssh for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as ssh. Unlike rcp, ssh will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication.

Any file name may contain a host and user specification to indicate that the file is to be copied to/from that host. Copies between two remote hosts are permitted.

Options

-c cipher: Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer. This option is directly passed to ssh.
-i identity_file: Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for RSA authentication is read. This option is directly passed to ssh.
-p: Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file.
-r: Recursively copy entire directories.
-v: Verbose mode. Causes scp and ssh to print debugging messages about their progress. This is helpful in debugging connection, authentication, and configura tion problems.
-B: Selects batch mode (prevents asking for passwords or passphrases).
-C: Compression enable. Passes the -C flag to ssh to enable compression.
-P port: Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host. Note that this option is written with a capital P, because -p is already reserved for preserving the times and modes of the file in rcp.

Authors

Tatu Ylönen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>;
OS/2 adaptation by Hans-Michael Stahl <hmstahl@berlin.snafu.de>

Derivation

Scp is based on the rcp program in BSD source code from the Regents of the University of California.