SFTP and File Copy

Knot provides two styles of file operation: the interactive knot sftp shell and script-friendly batch commands. knot cp uses Docker-style alias:/path remote paths for copying between the local machine and one remote server.

Interactive SFTP

knot sftp [alias] [remote_path]

Argument	Required	Description
[alias]	Yes	Server alias.
[remote_path]	No	Initial remote directory.

Examples:

knot sftp web-prod
knot sftp web-prod /var/www

The interactive shell supports command and path completion.

SFTP Shell Commands

Command	Usage	Description
help	help or ?	Show help.
exit	exit, quit, or bye	Exit the SFTP shell.
ls	ls [path]	List remote directory contents.
pwd	pwd	Print the current remote directory.
cd	cd <path>	Change remote directory.
get	get <remote_path> [local_path]	Download a file or directory.
put	put <local_path> [remote_path]	Upload a file or directory.
mget	mget <remote_pattern> [local_dir]	Download files matching a wildcard.
mput	mput <local_pattern> [remote_dir]	Upload files matching a wildcard.
rm	rm <path>	Remove a remote file.
mkdir	mkdir <path>	Create a remote directory.
rmdir	rmdir <path>	Remove a remote directory.

Example:

sftp:/var/www> ls
sftp:/var/www> put ./dist/app.tar.gz /tmp/app.tar.gz
sftp:/var/www> get release.tar.gz ~/Downloads/

Batch SFTP Commands

These commands do not enter the interactive shell and are suitable for scripts:

Command	Usage	Description
knot sftp ls	knot sftp ls alias:/path	List a remote directory.
knot sftp stat	knot sftp stat alias:/path	Show remote file or directory metadata.
knot sftp rm	knot sftp rm alias:/path	Remove a remote file.
knot sftp mkdir	knot sftp mkdir alias:/path	Create a remote directory, including missing parents.
knot sftp rmdir	knot sftp rmdir alias:/path	Remove a remote directory.
knot sftp mv	knot sftp mv alias:/old alias:/new	Rename a remote file or directory. Source and destination must use the same alias.

Examples:

knot sftp ls web-prod:/var/www
knot sftp stat web-prod:/var/www/index.html
knot sftp mv web-prod:/tmp/a web-prod:/tmp/b

knot cp

knot cp [SRC] [DEST] [flags]

Argument	Required	Description
[SRC]	Yes	Local path or remote path in alias:/path form.
[DEST]	Yes	Local path or remote path in alias:/path form. Remote-to-remote copy is not supported.

Flag	Type	Default	Description
-r, --recursive	bool	true	Copy directories recursively.
-f, --force	bool	false	Overwrite existing files.

Examples:

knot cp ./dist/. web-prod:/var/www/html/
knot cp web-prod:/var/log/nginx/access.log ./

When the source directory ends with /., Knot copies the directory contents instead of the directory itself.