SCP(1) BSD General Commands Manual SCP(1)
NAME
scp -- secure copy (remote file copy program)
SYNOPSIS
scp [-12346BCpqrv] [-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). 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.
-3 Copies between two remote hosts are transferred through the local
host. Without this option the data is copied directly between
the two remote hosts. Note that this option disables the
progress meter.
-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 com-
pression.
-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
CanonicalDomains
CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
CanonicalizeHostname
CanonicalizeMaxDots
CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
CertificateFile
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
ControlPersist
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostbasedKeyTypes
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentitiesOnly
IdentityAgent
IdentityFile
IPQoS
KbdInteractiveAuthentication
KbdInteractiveDevices
KexAlgorithms
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
PKCS11Provider
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
ProxyJump
PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UpdateHostKeys
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.
-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 sym-
bolic 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.
EXIT STATUS
The scp utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
sftp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), ssh_config(5),
sshd(8)
HISTORY
scp is based on the rcp program in BSD source code from the Regents of
the University of California.
AUTHORS
Timo Rinne <tri AT iki.fi>
Tatu Ylonen <ylo AT cs.fi>
BSD December 1, 2024 BSD