SCP (secure copy) command Cheatsheet

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SCP command is used to securely copy files btween two locations i.e local to a remote location or remote location to local, you can also transfer from one remote location to another remote location.

Local to remote location

scp /path/to/local/file user@remote_host:/path/in/remote/location

Remote location to local

scp user@remote_host:/path/in/remote/location /path/to/local/file 

Copying multiple files

scp /path/to/local/file1 /path/to/local/file2 user@remote_host:/path/in/remote/location

Copying entire directory

scp -r /path/to/local/directory user@remote_host:/path/in/remote/location

SCP Options

OptionDescriptionExample
-CForce SCP to compress datascp -C foo.txt [email protected]:/home/ubuntu/
-rrecursively copy files from directories
-vverbose mode to see transfer detailsscp -v foo.txt [email protected]:/home/ubuntu/
-llimit the bandwidthscp -l 100 foo.txt [email protected]:/home/ubuntu/