SFTP Command Reference

Connecting to a server

SFTP runs over SSH (port 22 by default), so authentication and host-key verification work exactly like ssh. These flags go on the command line before the session starts:

If the connection is refused or hangs, verify the server first with the SFTP Connection Tester, and check which authentication methods it accepts with the SFTP Auth Method Checker.

Downloading & uploading

There is no ascii/binary toggle - SFTP always transfers files byte-for-byte, so nothing gets corrupted by line-ending conversion.

Navigation & file management

On the server (remote)

On your machine (local)

A typical session

C:\> sftp deploy@example.com
Connected to example.com.
sftp> cd /var/www/site
sftp> lcd C:\Projects\site\dist
sftp> put -r .
Uploading ./index.html to /var/www/site/index.html
sftp> chmod 644 index.html
sftp> ls -la
-rw-r--r-- 1 deploy www 14522 Jul 18 11:02 index.html
sftp> bye

Batch mode & scripting

For unattended transfers, put commands in a file (one per line) and run sftp in batch mode. Batch mode aborts on the first error and requires key-based authentication - it cannot prompt for a password:

# upload.txt
cd /var/www/site
lcd C:\Projects\site\dist
put -r .
bye
C:\> sftp -b upload.txt -i C:\keys\deploy_key deploy@example.com

This works, but every recurring job means maintaining a script, a key, and a Task Scheduler entry. If you'd rather define "upload this folder every night at 2:00" in a UI - with retries, notifications, and history - that's what FTPie's Scheduled Transfers do.

SFTP on the Windows command line

Windows 10 (1809 and later) and Windows 11 include Microsoft's build of the OpenSSH client in C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH, so sftp runs in Command Prompt and PowerShell with nothing to install. If Windows answers 'sftp' is not recognized, turn on OpenSSH Client under Settings > Optional features (in Apps on Windows 10, in System on Windows 11), or run Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0 in PowerShell as administrator. Everything else on this page works the same; these are the parts that are specific to Windows:

A scheduled upload, end to end

Put the commands in C:\Scripts\upload.txt, one per line as in the batch example above, and call sftp from a .bat file. The wrapper lets Task Scheduler run it and leaves a line in a log when a run fails:

@echo off
rem C:\Scripts\upload.bat
sftp -b C:\Scripts\upload.txt -i C:\Users\you\.ssh\id_ed25519 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new deploy@example.com
if errorlevel 1 (
echo %date% %time% upload failed, exit code %errorlevel% >> C:\Scripts\upload.log
exit /b 1
)

Run it once by hand, then schedule upload.bat; automating FTP and SFTP transfers on Windows walks through the Task Scheduler settings that matter.

What the exit codes mean

Checked with Windows' own OpenSSH 9.5 against a public test server, October 2026.

Would you rather click than script? Our honest roundup of the best SFTP clients for Windows compares WinSCP, FileZilla, Cyberduck, FTPie and the rest.