How do I automate my FTP's?


Create a script that does the following:

ftp -n << EOF
      open my.server.at.my.office
      binary
      user userid password
      get myfile.gif
      bye
EOF



Ok, so that is kinda neat.  But what does the "-n" option do?

From the man pages:

     -n    Does not attempt "auto-login" upon initial connection.
           If  auto-login  is not disabled, ftp checks the .netrc
           file  in  the  user's  home  directory  for  an  entry
           describing  an  account  on the remote machine.  If no
           entry exists, ftp will prompt for the  login  name  of
           the  account on the remote machine (the default is the
           login name on the local machine), and,  if  necessary,
           prompts  for  a  password and an account with which to
           login.


Remember, if you need to use a .netrc file, it must be in your
home directory 
(whatever is listed in /etc/password.  For bin, it is /usr/bin/). 
 
Also, its permissions should be set to disallow read access by
group and others:
	chmod 600 .netrc