tftp - IPv4 Trivial File Transfer Protocol client

tftp [ options... ] [host [port]] [-c command]

tftp is a client for the IPv4 Trivial file Transfer Protocol, which can be used to transfer files to and from remote machines, including some very minimalistic, usually embedded, systems. The remote host may be specified on the command line, in which case tftp uses host as the default host for future transfers (see the connect command below.)

-c command

Execute command as if it had been entered on the tftp prompt. Must be specified last on the command line.

-m mode

Set the default transfer mode to mode. This is usually used with -c.

-v

Default to verbose mode.

-V

Print the version number and configuration to standard output, then exit gracefully.

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

? command-name...

help command-name...

Print help information

ascii

Shorthand for mode ascii.

binary

Shorthand for mode binary.

connect host [port]

Set the host (and optionally port) for transfers. Note that 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.

get file

get remotefile localfile

get file1 file2 file3...

Get a file or set of files from the specified sources. A remote filename can be in one of two forms: a plain 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 hostname specified becomes the default for future transfers.

mode transfer-mode

Specify the mode for transfers; transfer-mode may be one of ascii (or netascii) or binary (or octet.) The default is ascii.

put file

put localfile remotefile

put file1 file2 file3... remote-directory

Put a file or 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 hostname specified becomes the default for future transfers. If the remote-directory form is used, the remote host is assumed to be a UNIX system or another system using / as directory separator.

quit

Exit tftp. End-of-file will also exit.

rexmt retransmission-timeout

Set the per-packet retransmission timeout, in seconds.

status

Show current status.

timeout total-transmission-timeout

Set the total transmission timeout, in seconds.

trace

Toggle packet tracing (a debugging feature.)

verbose

Toggle verbose mode.

The TFTP protocol provides no provisions for authentication or security. Therefore, the remote server will probably implement some kinds of access restriction or firewalling. These access restrictions are likely to be site- and server-specific.

This version of tftp is maintained by H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>. It was derived from, but has substantially diverged from, an OpenBSD source base, with added patches by Markus Gutschke and Gero Kulhman.

tftpd(8).