How to SCP From Remote to Local & Vice-Versa

The Secure Copy Protocol, known as SCP, is the Internet’s standard method to copy files between two hosts. Whereas FTP used to be the norm, it has become obsolete since the data transferred is unencrypted and can be intercepted. It is preferable to stick to SCP or SFTP to transfer files as both protocols are using SSH to communicate.

In this tutorial, I will show you some examples of how to use SCP to copy files over two computers:

1. How to SCP from a remote host to your local computer;
2. How to SCP from your local computer to a remote host;
3. How to SCP between two remote hosts;
4. Useful SCP command switches and parameters.

Note that the SCP command line tool is available on MS Windows, Mac OSX and Linux operating systems and the syntax is the same.

1. SCP From Remote to Local

In order to use SCP to download a single file to your local host, use this command:

You can also use a wildcard (*) to download multiple files at a time:

To download an entire folder, simply use the “recursive” switch:

2. SCP From Local to Remote

Using SCP to upload a file to a remote host is pretty much the same as when you perform a download, except that you need to invert the “remote”  and “local” parameters.

Here’s how to upload a single file to a remote host:

You can also use a wildcard (*) to upload multiple files at a time:

To upload an entire folder, use the “recursive” switch:

3. SCP Between Two Remote Hosts

Again, the syntax is pretty similar except this time you need to replace the local host by another remote host.

Here’s how to copy a single file between two remote hosts:

Using a wildcard (*) to copy multiple files at a time between two hosts:

And finally, copying an entire folder using the “recursive” switch:

4. Advanced SCP Command Switches and Parameters

Of course, there is so much more to SCP that I won’t go through in this post but here are few command switches and parameters that might come in handful:

Using SCP on a different port

By default, SCP uses port 22, which is the default port for SSH. To use a different port, use the “-P” switch:

Note that the specified port will only apply to the source host when copying files between two remote hosts.

Using SCP with SSH key authentication

Assuming the remote server is configured to accept SSH key authentication and the proper public key file is present, use the “-i” switch to specify the private key file:

Debugging SCP transfers

If you happen to encounter some problem to either connect to a remote host or to copy files, use the “-v” switch to enable the verbose mode:

This will print debugging messages to the console that might help you fix the problem.

If you have SCP use examples to share, don’t hesitate to post them in the comments below.