Getting Files

To retrieve a file and save it in your current directory, add a local destination after the remote source.  To download file1 and save it with the name file2:

movedat user@example.com:file1 file2

These examples assume a username is required.  If the server is running without authentication, or allows anonymous access, you may omit the "user@" portion.

If the file or path names contain spaces or other special characters, surround the entire argument in quotes, like this:

movedat "user@example.com:My File" "My File"

If you specify a folder as the local destination, the file will be saved in that folder using the same base name as from the server:

movedat user@example.com:file1 folder/

When the local destination is a folder, you can request multiple downloads in a single command:

movedat user@sv1.example.com:file1 user@sv1.example.com:file2 folder/

As a short-cut, you can use "./" as the folder to save into the current folder.  You can also request multiple remote files using wild-card characters.

When multiple sources are given, the destination must be a folder and it must end in a forward slash '/'.

The server always uses forward slash '/' as its path delimiter.  But on Windows machines, local pathnames will use the backslash '\' character.  So downloading a file using the Windows version of movedat could look like this:

movedat user@example.com:dirname/subdirname C:\mydir\mysubdir

But be careful not to end a quoted Windows path with a backslash, as this confuses the Windows shell into ignoring the end quote.  See the Known Issues section for details.

movedat user@example.com:dirname/subdirname "My Subdir\" Unable to access file: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.: My Subdir"

The Windows version of movedat also treats a single character followed by a colon as a local volume, rather than a server with a single character name.

movedat user@example.com:C:/dirname/subdirname C:\mydir\mysubdir

Temporary Files

The file will initially be saved with a name ending in ".TMP" during the download.  On Windows systems, a ".CHK" companion file will also be created.  If the download is interrupted, do not rename these files as doing so may prevent the download from being resumed.

When you begin a Get operation, the destination folder will be searched for files or partial downloads with the same name.  If a useable partial download is found, you may choose to Resume it or delete the existing file immediately.  If a conflicting file that can't be resumed is found, you will be asked if you want to delete the old file.

To disable resumable downloads and write directly to the named destination, use the "-c" command line option, or the "NoCheck" configuration variable.

Once a file has been successfully downloaded, the temporary file will be renamed and movedat will attempt to set the modification date, access rights, ownership, and group id of the downloaded file to match those of the remote file.  Whether or not this is successful will depend on the server version, operating systems, and movedat's own access rights.

Symbolic Links

When browsing non-Windows servers, symbolic links will be shown with their target path.  You may Get a regular file targeted by a symbolic link by specifying the link's path, just like a regular file.  Symbolic links to folders may be included in paths, just like regular folders.

When Getting entire folders, the handling of symbolic links depends on whether Streaming Folders is enabled.  See Copying Folders for details.

Windows symbolic links are copied as if the target file were in the place of the link.  Windows shortcut files (.lnk) are copied as regular files and their targets are ignored.

Irregular Files

Other irregular files (devices, sockets, pipes, etc.) cannot be downloaded or targeted as the destination of a Get.  If an irregular file already exists at the destination path, then the download will fail.  See the Known Issues section for further details.