tftp(1tcp)

tftp -- trivial file transfer program

Synopsis

tftp [host [port]]

Description

The tftp command is the user interface to the Internet TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol), which allows users to transfer files to and from a remote machine.

Usage

The remote host, and optionally the port, may be specified on the command line, in which case tftp uses host as the default host for future transfer (see the connect command below).

host may be a resolvable domain name, an IPv4 address, or an IPv6 address. port must be specified as an integer.

Commands

Once tftp is running, it issues the prompt tftp> and recognizes the following commands:

connect host [port]: Set the host (and optionally port) for transfers. The TFTP protocol, unlike the FTP protocol, does not maintain connections between transfers; thus, the connect command does not actually create a connection, but merely remembers what host is to be used for transfers. You do not have to use the connect command; the remote host can be specified as part of the get or put commands.
mode transfer-mode: Set the mode for transfers; transfer-mode may be one of ascii or binary. The default is ascii.
put filename
put localfile remotefile
put filename1 filename2 . . . filenameN remote-directory: Transfer a file, or a set of files, to the specified remote file or directory. The destination can be in one of two forms: a filename on the remote host if the host has already been specified, or a string of the form

host:filename
to specify both a host and filename at the same time. If the latter form is used, the specified host becomes the default for future transfers. If the remote-directory form is used, the remote host is assumed to be running the UNIX system.
get filename
get remotename localname
get filename1 filename2 filename3 . . . filenameN: Get a file or set of files (three or more) from the specified remote sources. source can be in one of two forms: a filename on the remote host if the host has already been specified, or a string of the form

host:filename
to specify both a host and filename at the same time. If the latter form is used, the last host specified becomes the default for future transfers.
quit: Exit tftp. An EOF also exits.
verbose: Toggle verbose mode.
trace: Toggle packet tracing.
status: Show current status.
rexmt retransmission-timeout: Set the per-packet retransmission timeout, in seconds.
timeout total-transmission-timeout: Set the total transmission timeout, in seconds.
ascii: Shorthand for mode ascii.
binary: Shorthand for mode binary.
? [command-name . . . ]: Print help information.

Warnings

Because there is no user-login or validation within the TFTP protocol, many remote sites restrict file access in various ways. Approved methods for file access are specific to each site, and therefore cannot be documented here.

When using the get command to transfer multiple files from a remote host, three or more files must be specified. The command returns an error message if only two files are specified.

References

tftpd(1Mtcp)