This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using Python to Fetch Files from an FTP Server
ftp = ftplib.FTP('ftp.novell.com', 'anonymous', 'bwdayley@novell.com')
gFile = open("readme.txt", "wb")
ftp.retrbinary('RETR Readme', gFile.write)
gFile.close()
ftp.quit()
A common and extremely useful function of Python scripts is to retrieve files to be processed using the FTP protocol. The ftplib module included in Python allows you to use Python scripts to quickly attach to an FTP server, locate files, and then download them to be processed locally.
To open a connection to the FTP server, create an FTP server object using the ftplib.FTP([host [, user [, passwd]]]) method.
Once the connection to the server is opened, the methods in the ftplib module provide most of the FTP functionality to navigate the directory structure, manage files and directories, and, of course, download files.
The example shows connecting to an FTP server, listing the files and directories in the FTP server root directory using the dir() method, and then changing the directory using the cwd(path) method. In the example, the contents of the file Readme are downloaded from the FTP server and written to the local file readme.txt using the retrbinary(command, callback [, blocksize [, reset]]) method.
After you are finished downloading/managing the files on the FTP server, use the quit() method to close the connection.
import ftplib
#Open ftp connection
ftp = ftplib.FTP('ftp.novell.com', 'anonymous',
'bwdayley@novell.com')
#List the files in the current directory
print "File List:"
files = ftp.dir()
print files
#Get the readme file
ftp.cwd("/pub")
gFile = open("readme.txt", "wb")
ftp.retrbinary('RETR Readme', gFile.write)
gFile.close()
ftp.quit()
#Print the readme file contents
print "\nReadme File Output:"
gFile = open("readme.txt", "r")
buff = gFile.read()
print buff
gFile.close()
ftp_client.py
File List: -rw-r-r- 1 root root 720 Dec 15 2005 README.html -rw-r-r- 1 root root 1406 Dec 15 2005 Readme drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 53248 Jun 26 18:10 incoming drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 16384 Jun 26 17:53 outgoing drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 May 12 16:12 partners drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 4 18:24 priv drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 25 22:20 pub None Readme File Output: ************************************************ Before you download any software product you must read and agree to the following: . . .
Output from ftp_client.py code