SCP (Secure Copy, Remote File Copy )

scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses ssh for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as ssh. Unlike rcp, scp will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication. Any file name may contain a host and user specification to indicate that the file is to be copied to/from that host. Copies between two remote hosts are permitted.
Syntax :

scp [-1246BCpqrv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file] [-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-S program] [[user@]host1:]file1 ... [[user@]host2:]file2

Example :

lambanx@fresh-IDEA#scp -r 192.168.5.2:/home/assignment.odt /home




The options are as follows:

-1 Forces scp to use protocol 1.

-2 Forces scp to use protocol 2.

-4 Forces scp to use IPv4 addresses only.

-6 Forces scp to use IPv6 addresses only.

-B Selects batch mode (prevents asking for passwords or
passphrases).

-C Compression enable. Passes the -C flag to ssh(1) to enable com‐
pression.

-c cipher
Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer. This
option is directly passed to ssh(1).

-F ssh_config
Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh.
This option is directly passed to ssh(1).

-i identity_file
Selects the file from which the identity (private key) for RSA
authentication is read. This option is directly passed to
ssh(1).

-l limit
Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.

-o ssh_option
Can be used to pass options to ssh in the format used in
ssh_config(5). This is useful for specifying options for which
there is no separate scp command-line flag. For full details of
the options listed below, and their possible values, see
ssh_config(5).

AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentityFile
IdentitiesOnly
KbdInteractiveDevices
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
PubkeyAuthentication
RekeyLimit
RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
SmartcardDevice
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UsePrivilegedPort
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS

-P port
Specifies the port to connect to on the remote host. Note that
this option is written with a capital ‘P’, because -p is already
reserved for preserving the times and modes of the file in
rcp(1).

-p Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the
original file.

-q Disables the progress meter.

-r Recursively copy entire directories.

-S program
Name of program to use for the encrypted connection. The program
must understand ssh(1) options.

-v Verbose mode. Causes scp and ssh(1) to print debugging messages
about their progress. This is helpful in debugging connection,
authentication, and configuration problems.