CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonsshparamikoscp
Michael Gundlach
Michael Gundlach

Reputation: 109583

How to scp in Python?

What's the most pythonic way to scp a file in Python? The only route I'm aware of is 

os.system('scp "%s" "%s:%s"' % (localfile, remotehost, remotefile) )

which is a hack, and which doesn't work outside Linux-like systems, and which needs help from the Pexpect module to avoid password prompts unless you already have passwordless SSH set up to the remote host.

I'm aware of Twisted's conch, but I'd prefer to avoid implementing scp myself via low-level ssh modules.

I'm aware of paramiko, a Python module that supports SSH and SFTP; but it doesn't support SCP.

Background: I'm connecting to a router which doesn't support SFTP but does support SSH/SCP, so SFTP isn't an option.

EDIT: This is a duplicate of How to copy a file to a remote server in Python using SCP or SSH?. However, that question doesn't give an scp-specific answer that deals with keys from within Python. I'm hoping for a way to run code kind of like

import scp

client = scp.Client(host=host, user=user, keyfile=keyfile)
# or
client = scp.Client(host=host, user=user)
client.use_system_keys()
# or
client = scp.Client(host=host, user=user, password=password)

# and then
client.transfer('/etc/local/filename', '/etc/remote/filename')

Upvotes: 225

Views: 414139

Answers (13)

shrikkanth roxor
shrikkanth roxor

Reputation: 267

Simple example using paramiko's built in sftp client. That is not pure SCP only, but uses SSH below the surface as well, and should work whenever SCP works. As the OP states, his router prevents SFTP. So, if you absolutly need to use the SCP protocol, this solution is not for you.

import paramiko

client = paramiko.SSHClient()
client.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
 
client.connect('<IP Address>', username='<User Name>',password='' ,key_filename='<.PEM File path')
 
#Setup sftp connection and transmit this script 
print ("copying")

sftp = client.open_sftp() 
sftp.put(<Source>, <Destination>)


sftp.close()

Bonus using SFTP: you'll be able to list dirs for example, instead of being limited to put/get. Bonus 2, using only paramiko is reducing dependencies.

Upvotes: 12

Tom Shen
Tom Shen

Reputation: 1897

Try the Python scp module for Paramiko. It's very easy to use. See the following example:

import paramiko
from scp import SCPClient

def createSSHClient(server, port, user, password):
    client = paramiko.SSHClient()
    client.load_system_host_keys()
    client.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
    client.connect(server, port, user, password)
    return client

ssh = createSSHClient(server, port, user, password)
scp = SCPClient(ssh.get_transport())

Then call scp.get() or scp.put() to do SCP operations.

(SCPClient code)

Upvotes: 164

user443854
user443854

Reputation: 7473

Have a look at fabric.transfer.

from fabric import Connection

with Connection(host="hostname", 
                user="admin", 
                connect_kwargs={"key_filename": "/home/myuser/.ssh/private.key"}
               ) as c:
    c.get('/foo/bar/file.txt', '/tmp/')

Upvotes: 7

Pat Notz
Pat Notz

Reputation: 214426

You might be interested in trying Pexpect (source code). This would allow you to deal with interactive prompts for your password.

Here's a snip of example usage (for ftp) from the main website:

# This connects to the openbsd ftp site and
# downloads the recursive directory listing.
import pexpect
child = pexpect.spawn ('ftp ftp.openbsd.org')
child.expect ('Name .*: ')
child.sendline ('anonymous')
child.expect ('Password:')
child.sendline ('[email protected]')
child.expect ('ftp> ')
child.sendline ('cd pub')
child.expect('ftp> ')
child.sendline ('get ls-lR.gz')
child.expect('ftp> ')
child.sendline ('bye')

Upvotes: 17

smheidrich
smheidrich

Reputation: 4548

It has been quite a while since this question was asked, and in the meantime, another library that can handle this has cropped up: You can use the copy function included in the Plumbum library:

import plumbum
r = plumbum.machines.SshMachine("example.net")
   # this will use your ssh config as `ssh` from shell
   # depending on your config, you might also need additional
   # params, eg: `user="username", keyfile=".ssh/some_key"`
fro = plumbum.local.path("some_file")
to = r.path("/path/to/destination/")
plumbum.path.utils.copy(fro, to)

Upvotes: 5

Lo&#239;c
Lo&#239;c

Reputation: 11942

As of today, the best solution is probably AsyncSSH

https://asyncssh.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#scp-client

async with asyncssh.connect('host.tld') as conn:
    await asyncssh.scp((conn, 'example.txt'), '.', recurse=True)

Upvotes: 7

user7529863
user7529863

Reputation: 61

You can use the package subprocess and the command call to use the scp command from the shell.

from subprocess import call

cmd = "scp user1@host1:files user2@host2:files"
call(cmd.split(" "))

Upvotes: 6

Maviles
Maviles

Reputation: 3469

Couldn't find a straight answer, and this "scp.Client" module doesn't exist. Instead, this suits me:

from paramiko import SSHClient
from scp import SCPClient

ssh = SSHClient()
ssh.load_system_host_keys()
ssh.connect('example.com')

with SCPClient(ssh.get_transport()) as scp:
   scp.put('test.txt', 'test2.txt')
   scp.get('test2.txt')

Upvotes: 15

user178047
user178047

Reputation: 1324

If you are on *nix you can use sshpass

sshpass -p password scp -o User=username -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no src dst:/path

Upvotes: 2

ccpizza
ccpizza

Reputation: 31801

I while ago I put together a python SCP copy script that depends on paramiko. It includes code to handle connections with a private key or SSH key agent with a fallback to password authentication.

http://code.activestate.com/recipes/576810-copy-files-over-ssh-using-paramiko/

Upvotes: 1

Mr_Pink
Mr_Pink

Reputation: 109442

You could also check out paramiko. There's no scp module (yet), but it fully supports sftp.

[EDIT] Sorry, missed the line where you mentioned paramiko. The following module is simply an implementation of the scp protocol for paramiko. If you don't want to use paramiko or conch (the only ssh implementations I know of for python), you could rework this to run over a regular ssh session using pipes.

scp.py for paramiko

Upvotes: 11

Pat Notz
Pat Notz

Reputation: 214426

Hmmm, perhaps another option would be to use something like sshfs (there an sshfs for Mac too). Once your router is mounted you can just copy the files outright. I'm not sure if that works for your particular application but it's a nice solution to keep handy.

Upvotes: 1

Blauohr
Blauohr

Reputation: 6003

if you install putty on win32 you get an pscp (putty scp).

so you can use the os.system hack on win32 too.

(and you can use the putty-agent for key-managment)

sorry it is only a hack (but you can wrap it in a python class)

Upvotes: 7

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