Skip to content

Scp

SCP (Secure CoPy) is a simple way of transferring files between two machines that use the SSH protocol. SCP is available as a protocol choice in some graphical file transfer programs and also as a command line program on most Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X systems. SCP can copy single files, but will also recursively copy directory contents if given a directory name.

Note

After Aug 17, 2020, the community clusters will not support password-based authentication for login. Methods that can be used include two-factor authentication (Purdue Login) or SSH keys. If you do not have SSH keys installed, you would need to type your password,push passphrase into the SFTP's "Password" prompt.

Command-line usage

You can transfer files both to and from Gautschi while initiating an SCP session on either some other computer or on Gautschi (in other words, directionality of connection and directionality of data flow are independent from each other). The scp command appears somewhat similar to the familiar cp command, with an extra user@host:file syntax to denote files and directories on a remote host. Either Gautschi or another computer can be a remote.

Example: Initiating SCP session on some other computer (i.e. you are on some other computer, connecting to Gautschi):

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
      # (transfer TO Gautschi)
      # (Individual files) 
$ scp  sourcefile  myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:somedir/destinationfile
$ scp  sourcefile  myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:somedir/
      # (Recursive directory copy)
$ scp -pr sourcedirectory/  myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:somedir/

      # (transfer FROM Gautschi)
      # (Individual files)
$ scp  myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:somedir/sourcefile  destinationfile
$ scp  myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:somedir/sourcefile  somedir/
      # (Recursive directory copy)
$ scp -pr myusername@gautschi.rcac.purdue.edu:sourcedirectory  somedir/

The -p flag is optional. When used, it will cause the transfer to preserve file attributes and permissions. The -r flag is required for recursive transfers of entire directories.

Example: Initiating SCP session on Gautschi (i.e. you are on Gautschi, connecting to some other computer):

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
      # (transfer TO Gautschi)
      # (Individual files) 
$ scp  myusername@$another.computer.example.com:sourcefile  somedir/destinationfile
$ scp  myusername@$another.computer.example.com:sourcefile  somedir/
      # (Recursive directory copy)
$ scp -pr myusername@$another.computer.example.com:sourcedirectory/  somedir/

      # (transfer FROM Gautschi)
      # (Individual files)
$ scp  somedir/sourcefile  myusername@$another.computer.example.com:destinationfile
$ scp  somedir/sourcefile  myusername@$another.computer.example.com:somedir/
      # (Recursive directory copy)
$ scp -pr sourcedirectory  myusername@$another.computer.example.com:somedir/

The -p flag is optional. When used, it will cause the transfer to preserve file attributes and permissions. The -r flag is required for recursive transfers of entire directories.

Software (SCP Clients)

Linux and other Unix-like systems:

  • The scp command-line program should already be installed.

Microsoft Windows:

MobaXterm Free, full-featured, graphical Windows SSH, SCP, and SFTP client.

Command-line scp program can be installed as part of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), or Git-Bash.

Mac OS:

The scp command-line program should already be installed. You may start a local terminal window from "Applications->Utilities".

Cyberduck is a full-featured and free graphical SFTP and SCP client.

Back to the Storage section