Using the SCP command

SCP aka secure copy or ssh copy is just about the easiest way to quickly transfer files and folders on X based systems without the need to setup FTP servers and accounts. The scp command we use most often just for single files is:

scp -P port file1 user@server2:~/

This will simply copy file1 to the home directory of the user on server2. Since we use a non standard port, the -P is very important.

Sometimes we want to dump a whole folder with subfolders using scp. This command will scp the folder and subfolders to the home folder of user at server2:

scp -r -P port folder1/ user@server2:~/

If you use a ssh_key to identify yourself, you can use the -i switch to point to your key:

scp -r -i ssh_key.file -P port folder/ server2:~/ 

This will copy the folder and subfolders to the home directory of the user identified by the ssh_key.

If you want to learn more about scp – just type: man scp

The contents of this manual are pasted below to easily reference.
NAME
scp — secure copy (remote file copy program)

SYNOPSIS
scp [-1246BCEpqrv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file]
[-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-S program]
[[user@]host1:]file1 … [[user@]host2:]file2

DESCRIPTION
scp copies files between hosts on a network.  It uses ssh(1) for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as ssh(1).  Unlike rcp(1), scp will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication.

File names may contain a user and host specification to indicate that the file is to be copied to/from that host.
Local file names can be made explicit using absolute or relative pathnames to avoid scp treating file
names containing `:’ as host specifiers.  Copies between two remote hosts are also permitted.

The options are as follows:

-1   Forces scp to use protocol 1.

-2   Forces scp to use protocol 2.

-4   Forces scp to use IPv4 addresses only.

-6   Forces scp to use IPv6 addresses only.

-B   Selects batch mode (prevents asking for passwords or passphrases).

-C   Compression enable.
Passes the -C flag to ssh(1) to enable compression.

-c   cipher
Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer.  This option is directly passed to ssh(1).

-F    ssh_config
Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh. This option is directly passed to ssh(1).

-i     identity_file
Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for public key authentication is read.  This option is directly passed to ssh(1).

-l     limit
Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.

-o    ssh_option
Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in ssh_config(5).  This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate scp command-line flag.  For full details of the options listed below, and their possible values, see ssh_config(5).

AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentityFile
IdentitiesOnly
KbdInteractiveDevices
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
SmartcardDevice
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UsePrivilegedPort
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS

-P    port
Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host.  Note that this option is written with a capital `P’, because -p is already reserved for preserving the times and modes of the file in rcp(1).

-p    Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file.

-q   Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and diagnostic messages from ssh(1).

-r    Recursively copy entire directories.  Note that scp follows symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.

-S    program
Name of program to use for the encrypted connection.  The program must understand ssh(1) options.

-v    Verbose mode.
Causes scp and ssh(1) to print debugging messages about their progress.  This is helpful in debugging connection, authentication, and configuration problems.

The scp utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SCP on Mac has an extra option:

-E    Preserves extended attributes, resource forks, and ACLs.
Requires both ends to be running Mac OS X 10.4 or later.