SCP(1)                 BSD General Commands Manual                 SCP(1)

NAME
     scp — OpenSSH secure file copy

SYNOPSIS
     scp [-346BCpqrTv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file]
         [-J destination] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port]
         [-S program] source ... target

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.

     The source and target may be specified as a local pathname, a remote
     host with optional path in the form [user@]host:[path], or a URI in
     the form scp://[user@]host[:port][/path].  Local file names can be
     made explicit using absolute or relative pathnames to avoid scp
     treating file names containing ‘:’ as host specifiers.

     When copying between two remote hosts, if the URI format is used, a
     port may only be specified on the target if the -3 option is used.

     The options are as follows:

     -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 dis‐
             ables the progress meter and selects batch mode for the sec‐
             ond host, since scp cannot ask for passwords or passphrases
             for both hosts.

     -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).

     -J destination
             Connect to the target host by first making an scp connection
             to the jump host described by destination and then estab‐
             lishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate destination from
             there.  Multiple jump hops may be specified separated by
             comma characters.  This is a shortcut to specify a ProxyJump
             configuration directive.  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 val‐
             ues, see ssh_config(5).

                   AddressFamily
                   BatchMode
                   BindAddress
                   BindInterface
                   CanonicalDomains
                   CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
                   CanonicalizeHostname
                   CanonicalizeMaxDots
                   CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
                   CASignatureAlgorithms
                   CertificateFile
                   ChallengeResponseAuthentication
                   CheckHostIP
                   Ciphers
                   Compression
                   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
                   ProxyCommand
                   ProxyJump
                   PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes
                   PubkeyAuthentication
                   RekeyLimit
                   SendEnv
                   ServerAliveInterval
                   ServerAliveCountMax
                   SetEnv
                   StrictHostKeyChecking
                   TCPKeepAlive
                   UpdateHostKeys
                   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
             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.

     -T      Disable strict filename checking.  By default when copying
             files from a remote host to a local directory scp checks
             that the received filenames match those requested on the
             command-line to prevent the remote end from sending unex‐
             pected or unwanted files.  Because of differences in how
             various operating systems and shells interpret filename
             wildcards, these checks may cause wanted files to be
             rejected.  This option disables these checks at the expense
             of fully trusting that the server will not send unexpected
             filenames.

     -v      Verbose mode.  Causes scp and ssh(1) to print debugging mes‐
             sages 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@iki.fi>
     Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>

BSD                           April 30, 2020                          BSD