Transfer files using SCP Command in Linux

Author : Piyush Gupta

SCP (Secure Copy) is a command line tool for Linux systems for securely transfer files from local to remote server or vice a versa. SCP uses SSH protocol for transferring files between two systems which is more secure than ftp.

• Syntax: (Local to Remote)

scp /path/to/local/file.txt user@192.168.10.100:/remote/path/

• Syntax: (Remote to Local)

scp user@192.168.10.100:/remote/file.txt /path/to/local/

Transfer File Local to Remote Server

Following command will copy myfile.txt from current directory of local system to remote server’s /opt directory using root authentication. We are assuming remote server hostname is example.com.

$ scp myfile.txt root@example.com:/opt/ 

Transfer File Remote Server to Local

Following command will copy /opt/myfile.txt from remote system to local system’s /opt directory.

$ scp root@example.com:/opt/myfile.txt /opt/

Define Port with SCP Command

In case SSH is running on different port on remote server, use -P switch followed by port number with scp command.

$ scp -P 2344 myfile.txt root@example.com:/opt/myfile.txt

Transfer Directory Local to Remote Server Recursively

Following command will copy /opt/mydir directory from local system to remote system’s /opt directory recursively.

$ scp -r /opt/mydir root@example.com:/opt/

Transfer Directory Remote Server to Local Recursively

Following command will copy /opt/mydir directory from remote system to remote system’s /opt directory recursively.

$ scp -r root@example.com:/opt/mydir /opt/