ARCHIVED: What is NCFTP?

NCFTP is an enhanced FTP client that automates many of the login steps necessary with FTP and adds its own special features. To access NCFTP, at the Unix prompt, enter:

 ncftp

At Indiana University, you can access NCFTP on most UITS shared Unix systems.

When logging into a remote site, NCFTP automatically sends the username and password strings for anonymous access for you. This lets you log in and arrive at the NCFTP prompt (ncftp>) with a minimum of typing. If you plan to log in as yourself rather than using anonymous FTP, you can start NCFTP with the -u option to disable the automatic login process.

Most NCFTP commands are identical to the standard FTP commands. The same commands are used for moving files, changing directories, listing directory contents, and so on.

One nice feature of NCFTP is that it displays the current directory path on the remote site at each ncftp> prompt. In addition, NCFTP remembers the last directory you accessed on a site; the next time you log into that site, you will be placed back at that directory automatically.

Name completion for remote hostnames is another feature of NCFTP. For example, if you've logged into the site ftp.skywalker.jedi.com before, the next time you need to access this site, you can just enter:

 ncftp jedi

NCFTP will then search its database looking for a complete site name that contains the string jedi. If it finds one, then it will go to that site and log you in.

To get a list of NCFTP commands, at the ncftp> prompt, enter a question mark (?).