Re: FTP directory list information

Scott,

Thanks for the help. I am trying to run FTP from a java
client using the ORO Net Components FTP package at
www.savarese.org. That package, which is fairly widely
used does not work against the iSeries. I would like to
see it work at the same level it does against other platforms.
To do that I need to write a parser for the dir listing output.
My best bet at this point is to run an ls -l against the iSeries
using rcmd. I can pick the output up from a file, but it would
be easier and faster if the output of ls could be piped directly
back to ftp output stream.

I started out doing this so that Ant would not be limited when
running against an iSeries system.

Thanks,

David Morris

>>> klemscot@klements.com 06/11/02 04:01PM >>>

Some FTP servers allow you to pass an argument to specify flags
like -l, etc, but that's not required by the official standard.

The FTP protocol allows for two types of "list" commands.   One is
guaranteed to only list the names of the files, and is designed for
use by FTP clients to handle requests like "mget" etc.  The other
lists the human-readable info, which usually includes a bit more
detail,
like file sizes, permissions, etc.

The question that remains, then, is how to get your FTP client to
issue
the "human-readable" listing instead of the "filenames only"
listing...
You didn't say which client you're using...

For the default Windows (command-line) client I believe you type "dir"
to
get the details.

It's the same way with the IBM supplied client in OS/400...   "dir"
gives
the detailed list.

Under FreeBSD, however, "ls" gives details (since "nlist" just gives
the
names)

I don't remember how it works in Linux, tho...  or any of the 3rd
party
FTP clients...  so you'll have to experiment.



On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, David Morris wrote:

> Group,
>
> Does anyone know how to get the directory listing in FTP to show
more
> information? I am actually looking for something like what you get
from
> ls -l. It would be ideal if the ls ftp subcommand supported a -l
option.
> I tried running something like ! qsh cmd('ls -l'), which works on
the
> server, but from client, the command does not return anything. One
> workaround is to run the output of ls to a temporary file and then
read
> the file.
>