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Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/FAQ | 32 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 11 deletions
@@ -1402,17 +1402,27 @@ FAQ CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST to alter what exact listing command libcurl would use to list the files. - The follow-up question that tend to follow the previous one, is how a - program is supposed to parse the directory listing. How does it know what's - a file and what's a dir and what's a symlink etc. The harsh reality is that - FTP provides no such fine and easy-to-parse output. The output format FTP - servers respond to LIST commands are entirely at the server's own liking and - the NLST output doesn't reveal any types and in many cases don't even - include all the directory entries. Also, both LIST and NLST tend to hide - unix-style hidden files (those that start with a dot) by default so you need - to do "LIST -a" or similar to see them. - - The application thus needs to parse the LIST output. One such existing + The follow-up question tends to be how is a program supposed to parse the + directory listing. How does it know what's a file and what's a dir and what's + a symlink etc. If the FTP server supports the MLSD command then it will + return data in a machine-readable format that can be parsed for type. The + types are specified by RFC3659 section 7.5.1. If MLSD is not supported then + you have to work with what you're given. The LIST output format is entirely + at the server's own liking and the NLST output doesn't reveal any types and + in many cases doesn't even include all the directory entries. Also, both LIST + and NLST tend to hide unix-style hidden files (those that start with a dot) + by default so you need to do "LIST -a" or similar to see them. + + Example - List only directories. + ftp.funet.fi supports MLSD and ftp.kernel.org does not: + + curl -s ftp.funet.fi/pub/ -X MLSD | \ + perl -lne 'print if s/(?:^|;)type=dir;[^ ]+ (.+)$/$1/' + + curl -s ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ | \ + perl -lne 'print if s/^d[-rwx]{9}(?: +[^ ]+){7} (.+)$/$1/' + + If you need to parse LIST output in libcurl one such existing list parser is available at https://cr.yp.to/ftpparse.html Versions of libcurl since 7.21.0 also provide the ability to specify a wildcard to download multiple files from one FTP directory. |