Scripting a file move on an FTP Server

Question

I'm attempting to move multiple files on an FTP server to a different directory. So far, I've written a bash script that will login and retrieve any new files in the remote directory but the ftp command doesn't support a 'mv' command. Essentially the script would download the new file(s) and then once downloaded move the file(s) to a different directory on the same server.

Before you answer please note that this needs to be automated so using a GUI like Filezilla wouldn't help me as I would have to login to various ftp sites and move the files manually, also, keep in mind that I'm unable to ssh into any of the servers as they are managed by other company's and ftp access is all I'm able to get. Last thing, I won't know what the file names are so using a wildcard.

Answer 1

Since it appears that you can login successfully with your script, here are the command once that script is logged in.

• Contrary to common sense the rename command will move files

  rename /path/to/file/to/move /path/to/files/destination/

• And this should work with a wildcard, for example mp4's

  rename /path/to/files/*.mp4 /path/to/destination/

Hope this is what you were looking for!

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9461844/how-to-move-files-using-ftp-commands

Answer 2

FTP do not have mv command. You have to use rename command

The concept is generate a todo file to rename(move) each file one by one
full script to achieve move more than one file.
1. get file list from ftp server with mls command
2. generate to do list file
2.1 get file , for demo you can do more actions on text file
2.2 rename (move file)
3. execute ftp command with to do list file

#!/bin/sh
clear
# change local directory
cd [local-directory]

#collect file names
ftp -ni ftp.abccompany.com <<EOF
user [user] [password]
cd /OUT
mls abc*.* list.txt 
quit
EOF

# create ftp action list
echo >>todo.lst user [user] [password]
while read N
do
    #echo >>todo.lst cd /OUT #for demo you can do more actions on text file
    #echo >>todo.lst get $N  #for demo you can do more actions on text file
    echo >>todo.lst rename $N ARCHIVE/$N #did not change file name, move directory only
done <list.txt

echo >>todo.lst quit

# ftp transfer process
ftp -nv ftp.abccompany.com <todo.lst

# cleanup
rm todo.lst