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Why can't I copy with scp when I'm using "*" characters in the path?

scp SERVERNAME:/DIR/* .

What configs do SCP need to allow "*" in the path?

UPDATE: the problem is not on server side, pscp is trying to use SCPv1, and that's why the error message:

enter image description here

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very carefully. – Shadur Dec 22 '11 at 14:26
Since it looks like you are using putty, this may be relevant. – jw013 Dec 22 '11 at 16:54
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If you are using scp on Windows, I don't think this is the appropriate forum. – Chris Down Dec 23 '11 at 13:32

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote

You need to pass a literal escape to scp to avoid it treating * as a glob (that is, scp is the one expanding it).

scp 'SERVERNAME:/DIR/\*' .
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You either need quotes, or a backslash before the star, not both. And scp is not the one expanding it, the shell is. – Patrick Dec 23 '11 at 4:39
@Patrick That's not correct, scp expands the glob, even if your shell doesn't (you can try it for yourself). There are two stages: stopping your shell from expanding the glob (which is not necessary because it should have nothing to expand the glob to, and thus will remain intact), and telling scp that this character is not a glob. If it was your shell expanding the glob you would not have to escape it at all. – Chris Down Dec 23 '11 at 13:29
up vote 0 down vote

I found Patrick's advice to be correct, although Chris's answer got me on the right track. Use quotes and then you don't need the backslash before the asterisk.

scp 'SERVERNAME:/tmp/file_num\*' .

scp: /tmp/file_num*.csv: No such file or directory

scp 'SERVERNAME:/tmp/file_num*' .

judgments_for_job_171642.csv 100% 32KB 32.0KB/s 00:00
judgments_for_job_172394.csv 100% 548KB 182.6KB/s 00:03

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