Command-line arguments (Client)

FileZilla Client 2.x Command-Line Arguments

FileZilla Client does support some basic command-line arguments, but it's primarily a GUI application and as such isn't meant to do scripting/automation. Some functionality is nevertheless available through the command-line.

Standard Synopsis

• filezilla.exe <URL> [-du] <sourcefile> <targetdir> [-t] <targetname>
• filezilla.exe -s <name of site in Site Manager>

Description

• filezilla.exe [<protocol>://]<username>:<password>@<host>[:port]
  Used to connect to a host running a ftp server. The optional protocol can either be ftp://, sftp:// or ftps:// and defaults to ftp://. The port is optional. If it is ommited, the port defaults to 21 for ftp://, 22 for sftp:// and 990 for ftps://.
• filezilla.exe -s <name of site in Site Manager>
  Used to connect to a host that is defined in the Site Manager of the program. The name of the site is case sensitive.
• filezilla.exe [-du] <sourcefile> <targetdir> [-t] <targetname>
  Used to download (-d) or upload (-u) a file from/to the host.

User Commands

The supported user commands are:

• URL
  You can specify an URL FileZilla connect to when started.
• -s <name of site in Site Manager>
  Specifies an already defined site in the Site Manager that FileZilla tries to connect to when started.
• -d <sourcefile> <targetdir>
  Downloads the specified file from the server into the target dir.
• -u <sourcefile> <targetdir>
  Uploads the specified file into the target dir on the server. <sourcefile> has to be the full path of the file.
• -t <targetname>
  Only valid together with -u or -d: Specifies an alternate name for the target file. Must come directly after one of -u or -d.
• -quit
  Shuts down all running instances of FileZilla. Must be used solely; can't be combined with any of the other arguments.
• -i
  Imports a Site Manager .xml file.

Remarks: You can not use -s as argument to either -u or -d. Both -u and -d expect a full hostname.

Options

• -close
  Will close FileZilla after all transfers have finished.
• -config <configfile>
  Loads the file specified as configuration for the program. If used it has to be the first argument to FileZilla.
• -overwrite
  To set the fileexists action to overwrite.

Example (version 2.2.29)

• filezilla.exe -s "Remote Site" -u "c:\ftp\TestFile.txt" ftp://ftp_user:ftp_password@ftp_host_ip/test_stuff -close
  ...will connect to the site "Remote Site" (-s) defined in Site Manager and Upload (-u) local file "c:\ftp\TestFile.txt" into remote folder "test_stuff"; when transfer is complete, close FileZilla.
• FileZilla 2.2.29 command line transfer does not support Wildcards/Subdirectory specifications (i.e. \* or \*.*) will not work to transfer all folders/files; only single file transfers are allowed.

Example (version 2.2.30)

• filezilla.exe -close -overwrite -d ftp://ftp_user:ftp_password@ftp_host_ip/test_file.txt "c:\targetdirectory"
  ...will connect to the site ftp_host_ip and Download (-d) server file 'test_file.txt' into local folder "targetdirectory"; when transfer is complete, close FileZilla and if file all ready exists overwrite automatically.