SFTP One-Line Commands in Linux: Batch, Here-Docs, and Non-Interactive Transfers

Pull a single remote file into a local directory — useful in scripts when you do not want to open an interactive SFTP shell.

Run the command (localhost used as both client and server in this lab):

sftp localhost:/tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testfile.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/local/oneliner.txt

Sample output:

Connected to localhost.
Fetching /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testfile.txt to /tmp/sftp-lab/local/oneliner.txt

Confirm the file landed locally:

cat /tmp/sftp-lab/local/oneliner.txt

Sample output:

remote-file-content

If you omit the local path, SFTP saves the file under your current working directory using the remote basename.

Send one put command without a here-document block — handy for short cron lines.

Run the command:

sftp localhost:/tmp/sftp-lab/remote/ <<< $'put /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt'

Sample output:

Connected to localhost.
Changing to: /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/
sftp> put /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt
Uploading /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt to /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/upload.txt

Verify on the remote side (same host in this lab):

cat /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/upload.txt

Sample output:

local-upload

The <<< $'...' form feeds one line to SFTP's stdin after connect; quote remote paths with spaces carefully.

Put multiple SFTP commands in a text file and let -b run them non-interactively — the usual pattern for automation.

Create a batch file:

cat > /tmp/sftp-lab/batch/get.txt << 'EOF'
get /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testfile.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/local/downloaded.txt
bye
EOF

Run batch mode:

sftp -b /tmp/sftp-lab/batch/get.txt localhost

Sample output:

sftp> get /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testfile.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/local/downloaded.txt
sftp> bye

Check the download:

cat /tmp/sftp-lab/local/downloaded.txt

Sample output:

remote-file-content

Batch mode aborts on the first failing command unless you pass -oBatchMode together with error-handling in your wrapper script.

When you need cd, mkdir, put, or get in one shot, a here-document is clearer than chaining <<< lines.

Run the commands:

sftp localhost <<EOF
put /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/uploaded-via-heredoc.txt
bye
EOF

Sample output:

Connected to localhost.
sftp> put /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/uploaded-via-heredoc.txt
Uploading /tmp/sftp-lab/local/upload.txt to /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/uploaded-via-heredoc.txt
sftp> bye

Confirm:

cat /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/uploaded-via-heredoc.txt

Sample output:

local-upload

End with bye or quit so the session closes cleanly in scripts.

Mirror a remote folder tree in one command line — equivalent to get -r inside an interactive session.

Run the command:

sftp -r localhost:/tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testdir /tmp/sftp-lab/local/

Sample output:

Connected to localhost.
Fetching /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testdir/ to /tmp/sftp-lab/local/testdir
Retrieving /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testdir

List what arrived:

find /tmp/sftp-lab/local/testdir -type f

Sample output:

/tmp/sftp-lab/local/testdir/inner.txt

Recursive uploads often need a here-doc (put -r) because a single URL-style one-liner cannot express every remote layout.

Keep commands inside the script without maintaining a separate batch file on disk.

Run the commands:

sftp -b - localhost <<'BATCH'
get /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testdir/inner.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/local/inner.txt
bye
BATCH

Sample output:

sftp> get /tmp/sftp-lab/remote/testdir/inner.txt /tmp/sftp-lab/local/inner.txt
sftp> bye

Verify:

cat /tmp/sftp-lab/local/inner.txt

Sample output:

inside dir

Quote the delimiter (<<'BATCH') so the shell does not expand variables inside the batch lines.

Cron and CI jobs should fail fast when a password would be required — BatchMode=yes tells SSH not to prompt.

Run the command:

sftp -o BatchMode=yes -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 [email protected]:/data/file.tar.gz /var/backups/

Sample output (success):

Connected to backup.example.com.
Fetching /data/file.tar.gz to /var/backups/file.tar.gz

Sample output (no usable key — exits non-zero):

[email protected]: Permission denied (publickey,password).
Connection closed

Pair this with key-based login; see ssh command for ssh-copy-id setup.

Some legacy hosts only allow password auth. sshpass wraps SFTP for one-line uploads — install the package first, and prefer a secrets file over literals in shell history.

Install (once per host):

sudo apt install -y sshpass

Run a password-backed batch upload:

sshpass -f /root/.sftp_pass sftp -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -b /tmp/upload.ba [email protected]

Sample batch file /tmp/upload.ba:

cd incoming
put /var/reports/daily.csv
bye

Sample output:

sftp> cd incoming
sftp> put /var/reports/daily.csv
Uploading /var/reports/daily.csv to /incoming/daily.csv
sftp> bye

Restrict permissions on the password file (chmod 600) and migrate to SSH keys when possible — passwords in scripts are a last resort.

When sshd listens on something other than port 22, tell SFTP explicitly — -P is the sftp front-end flag (uppercase).

Run the command:

sftp -P 2222 -o User=deploy sftp.example.com:/releases/app.tgz /tmp/

Sample output:

Connected to sftp.example.com.
Fetching /releases/app.tgz to /tmp/app.tgz

Equivalent using SSH option syntax:

sftp -o Port=2222 [email protected]:/releases/app.tgz /tmp/

Do not confuse sftp -P (port) with ssh -p (lowercase) — they are different binaries with different flag letters.