SSH Cheatsheet

scp and sftp

Use this SSH reference while you build software engineering projects, review code for technical interview prep, or polish examples for a software engineer resume.

scp — Secure Copy

scp copies files over SSH. Syntax mirrors cp but paths can be [user@]host:path.

scp [options] source destination

Copy Files

# Local → Remote
scp file.txt user@host:/remote/path/

# Remote → Local
scp user@host:/remote/path/file.txt ./local/

# Remote → Remote (routed through local machine)
scp user@host1:/file.txt user@host2:/dest/

Copy Directories

# Recursive copy
scp -r ./mydir user@host:/remote/path/

# Recursive with compression
scp -rC ./mydir user@host:/remote/path/

Common scp Flags

Flag	What it does
`-r`	Recursive (directories)
`-p`	Preserve timestamps and permissions
`-P PORT`	Non-default port (uppercase P — differs from ssh)
`-i FILE`	Identity file
`-C`	Enable compression
`-q`	Quiet, no progress bar
`-l KBPS`	Limit bandwidth (kbits/sec)
`-3`	Route remote-to-remote through local (default in newer OpenSSH)
`-J JUMP`	Jump host

# Non-default port example
scp -P 2222 file.txt user@host:/tmp/

# With jump host
scp -J user@bastion file.txt user@target:/tmp/

Note: OpenSSH 9.0+ uses the SFTP subsystem internally for scp by default (-s flag). The old SCP protocol is legacy.

rsync over SSH (Better than scp for Large Transfers)

# Basic sync
rsync -avz ./src/ user@host:/dest/

# Dry run first
rsync -avzn ./src/ user@host:/dest/

# Delete files on remote that no longer exist locally
rsync -avz --delete ./src/ user@host:/dest/

# Custom SSH port
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 2222" ./src/ user@host:/dest/

# Limit bandwidth (KB/s)
rsync -avz --bwlimit=5000 ./src/ user@host:/dest/

sftp — Interactive File Transfer

sftp user@host
sftp -P 2222 user@host          # non-default port (uppercase P)
sftp -i ~/.ssh/mykey user@host

sftp Commands (Inside the Session)

Command	What it does
`ls` / `lls`	List remote / local files
`cd` / `lcd`	Change remote / local directory
`pwd` / `lpwd`	Print remote / local working dir
`get file`	Download file
`get -r dir`	Download directory
`put file`	Upload file
`put -r dir`	Upload directory
`mget *.log`	Download multiple files
`mput *.csv`	Upload multiple files
`rm file`	Delete remote file
`rmdir dir`	Remove remote directory
`mkdir dir`	Create remote directory
`chmod 644 file`	Change remote permissions
`rename old new`	Rename remote file
`df -h`	Remote disk usage
`!cmd`	Run a local shell command
`bye` / `exit` / `quit`	Exit sftp

sftp Batch Mode (Scripted)

# Execute commands from a file
sftp -b commands.txt user@host

# commands.txt
cd /var/www
put index.html
put -r assets/
bye

Comparison

Tool	Best for
`scp`	Quick one-off file copies
`rsync`	Syncing directories, large files, resumable
`sftp`	Interactive browsing, multiple operations