SCP(1) | General Commands Manual | SCP(1)

# NAME

`scp` — OpenSSH secure file copy

# SYNOPSIS

`scp` | [`-346ABCOpqRrsTv`] [`-c` cipher] [`-D` sftp_server_path] [`-F` ssh_config] [`-i` identity_file] [`-J` destination] [`-l` limit] [`-o` ssh_option] [`-P` port] [`-S` program] [`-X` sftp_option] source ... target

# DESCRIPTION

`scp` copies files between hosts on a network.

`scp` uses the SFTP protocol over an ssh(1) connection for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as a login session.

`scp` will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication.

The source and target may be specified as a local pathname, a remote host with optional path in the form [user@]host:[path], or a URI in the form scp://[user@]host[:port][/path]. Local file names can be made explicit using absolute or relative pathnames to avoid `scp` treating file names containing ‘:’ as host specifiers.

When copying between two remote hosts, if the URI format is used, a port cannot be specified on the target if the `-R` option is used.

The options are as follows:

`-3`
  Copies between two remote hosts are transferred through the local host. This mode is the default, but see also the `-R` option for copying data directly between two remote hosts. Note that when using the legacy SCP protocol (via the `-O` flag), this option selects batch mode for the second host as `scp` cannot ask for passwords or passphrases for both hosts.
`-4`
  Forces `scp` to use IPv4 addresses only.
`-6`
  Forces `scp` to use IPv6 addresses only.
`-A`
  Allows forwarding of ssh-agent(1) to the remote system. The default is not to forward an authentication agent.
`-B`
  Selects batch mode (prevents asking for passwords or passphrases).
`-C`
  Compression enable. Passes the `-C` flag to ssh(1) to enable compression.
`-c` cipher
  Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer. This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
`-D` sftp_server_path
  Connect directly to a local SFTP server program rather than a remote one via ssh(1). This option may be useful in debugging the client and server.
`-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 public key authentication is read. This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
`-J` destination
  Connect to the target host by first making an `scp` connection to the jump host described by destination and then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate destination from there. Multiple jump hops may be specified separated by comma characters. This is a shortcut to specify a `ProxyJump` configuration directive. This option is directly passed to ssh(1).
`-l` limit
  Limits the used bandwidth, specified in Kbit/s.
`-O`
  Use the legacy SCP protocol for file transfers instead of the SFTP protocol. Forcing the use of the SCP protocol may be necessary for servers that do not implement SFTP, for backwards-compatibility for particular filename wildcard patterns and for expanding paths with a ‘~’ prefix for older SFTP servers.
`-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).

  AddKeysToAgent
  AddressFamily
  BatchMode
  BindAddress
  BindInterface
  CASignatureAlgorithms
  CanonicalDomains
  CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
  CanonicalizeHostname
  CanonicalizeMaxDots
  CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
  CertificateFile
  ChannelTimeout
  CheckHostIP
  Ciphers
  ClearAllForwardings
  Compression
  ConnectTimeout
  ConnectionAttempts
  ControlMaster
  ControlPath
  ControlPersist
  DynamicForward
  EnableEscapeCommandline
  EnableSSHKeysign
  EscapeChar
  ExitOnForwardFailure
  FingerprintHash
  ForkAfterAuthentication
  ForwardAgent
  ForwardX11
  ForwardX11Timeout
  ForwardX11Trusted
  GSSAPIAuthentication
  GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
  GatewayPorts
  GlobalKnownHostsFile
  HashKnownHosts
  Host
  HostKeyAlgorithms
  HostKeyAlias
  HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
  HostbasedAuthentication
  Hostname
  IPQoS
  IdentitiesOnly
  IdentityAgent
  IdentityFile
  IgnoreUnknown
  Include
  KbdInteractiveAuthentication
  KbdInteractiveDevices
  KexAlgorithms
  KnownHostsCommand
  LocalCommand
  LocalForward
  LogLevel
  LogVerbose
  MACs
  NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
  NumberOfPasswordPrompts
  ObscureKeystrokeTiming
  PKCS11Provider
  PasswordAuthentication
  PermitLocalCommand
  PermitRemoteOpen
  Port
  PreferredAuthentications
  ProxyCommand
  ProxyJump
  ProxyUseFdpass
  PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
  PubkeyAuthentication
  RekeyLimit
  RemoteCommand
  RemoteForward
  RequestTTY
  RequiredRSASize
  RevokedHostKeys
  SecurityKeyProvider
  SendEnv
  ServerAliveCountMax
  ServerAliveInterval
  SessionType
  SetEnv
  StdinNull
  StreamLocalBindMask
  StreamLocalBindUnlink
  StrictHostKeyChecking
  SyslogFacility
  TCPKeepAlive
  Tag
  Tunnel
  TunnelDevice
  UpdateHostKeys
  User
  UserKnownHostsFile
  VerifyHostKeyDNS
  VisualHostKey
  XAuthLocation
`-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 mode bits of the file.
`-p`
  Preserves modification times, access times, and file mode bits from the source file.
`-q`
  Quiet mode: disables the progress meter as well as warning and diagnostic messages from ssh(1).
`-R`
  Copies between two remote hosts are transferred through the local host by default. This option instead copies between two remote hosts by connecting to the origin host and executing `scp` there. This requires that `scp` running on the origin host can authenticate to the destination host without requiring a password.
`-r`
  Recursively copy entire directories. Note that `scp` follows symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal.
`-S` program
  Name of program to use for the encrypted connection. The program must understand ssh(1) options.
`-T`
  Disable strict filename checking. By default when copying files from a remote host to a local directory `scp` checks that the received filenames match those requested on the command-line to prevent the remote end from sending unexpected or unwanted files. Because of differences in how various operating systems and shells interpret filename wildcards, these checks may cause wanted files to be rejected. This option disables these checks at the expense of fully trusting that the server will not send unexpected filenames.
`-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.
`-X` sftp_option
  Specify an option that controls aspects of SFTP protocol behaviour. The valid options are:
  `nrequests`=value
    Controls how many concurrent SFTP read or write requests may be in progress at any point in time during a download or upload. By default 64 requests may be active concurrently.
  `buffer`=value
    Controls the maximum buffer size for a single SFTP read/write operation used during download or upload. By default a 32KB buffer is used.

# EXIT STATUS

The `scp` utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

# SEE ALSO

sftp(1), ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), ssh_config(5), sftp-server(8), sshd(8)

# HISTORY

`scp` is based on the rcp program in BSD source code from the Regents of the University of California.

Since OpenSSH 9.0, `scp` has used the SFTP protocol for transfers by default.

# AUTHORS

Timo Rinne <tri@iki.fi>
Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>

# CAVEATS

The legacy SCP protocol (selected by the `-O` flag) requires execution of the remote user's shell to perform glob(3) pattern matching. This requires careful quoting of any characters that have special meaning to the remote shell, such as quote characters.

October 4, 2025 | Debian