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How to Transfer Files Between 2 Computers Using SFTP

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Hey guys, let’s go over some SFTP. So, first what is SSTP? Well first before we answer that question, let’s ask a similar but different question, what is FTP? FTP is an acronym for the term file transfer protocol and it uses the port 21, and basically what it does is it transfers files between two machines. So, SFTP, because in regular FTP everything is transferred in clear text, so if anybody is sniffing packets on your network like we learned in a previous video, they would be able to read all those packets, basically. So, we’re not going to use FTP, I actually recommend never use FTP. SFTP is just easier anyway, and so we’re just going to use SFTP. So, similarly to the “ssh” command, you’re gonna write “sftp” and then the connection string. So, in my case it’s exactly the same as before. Then it asks for my password for the remote host, so I’m gonna put that in here, and now I can list what’s on the remote host by typing “ls” but we also have a few different commands to list what’s on the local host. I’m actually gonna exit here. I’m going to make a directory called “sftp-demo” I’m going to change into sftp-demo, and I’m going to “touch” a file called “names.txt.” Now, I’m going to reconnect while in this directory, to my server. Now, if I run “ls” I get the remote directories current directory listing, if I type “lls” I get the local listing of the directory that I’m in on the local host. And so here we can actually, we can grab files and transfer them to and from both machines. So, if I wanted to put names.text on to the server in the current directory, what I would do is type “put names.txt” and it’s going to upload it to my remote host with the same name. So, that’s when you would use “put” if you want to push a file from from your local machine to the remote host. Similarly, use the command “get” to get files. So, I’m going to, I really don’t recall any of these files, I’m just gonna get the composer.json file. So, I’m going to type “get composer.json” and if I run “lls” on my local machine I can now see that I have that file there. So, if I exit and then run “ls” I’ve got that file there. So, that is how you would use SFTP to transfer files to and from machines, and also a few commands there that can help you see what files are available. So, thank you guys so much for watching, and I will see you guys again soon.