Learning Python Network Programming

Chapter 5

In the following code snippet, an example of a full FTP file download can be seen:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import ftplib

FTP_SERVER_URL = 'ftp.kernel.org'

DOWNLOAD_DIR_PATH = '/pub/software/network/tftp'

DOWNLOAD_FILE_NAME = 'tftp-hpa-0.11.tar.gz'

def ftp_file_download(path, username, email):

# open ftp connection

ftp_client = ftplib.FTP(path, username, email)

# list the files in the download directory

ftp_client.cwd(DOWNLOAD_DIR_PATH)

print("File list at %s:" %path)

files = ftp_client.dir()

print(files)

# downlaod a file

file_handler = open(DOWNLOAD_FILE_NAME, 'wb')

#ftp_cmd = 'RETR %s ' %DOWNLOAD_FILE_NAME

ftp_client.retrbinary('RETR tftp-hpa-0.11.tar.gz',

file_handler.write)

file_handler.close()

ftp_client.quit()

if __name__ == '__main__':

ftp_file_download(path=FTP_SERVER_URL, username='anonymous',

email='[email protected]')

The preceding code illustrates how an anonymous FTP can be downloaded from
ftp.kernel.org, which is the official website that hosts the Linux kernel. The FTP()
class takes three arguments, such as the initial filesystem path on the remote server,
the username, and the email address of the ftp user. For anonymous downloads,
no username and password is required. So, the script can be downloaded from the
tftp-hpa-0.11.tar.gz file, which can be found on the /pub/software/network/
tftp path.