Downloading the most recent file

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Using WinSCP .NET Assembly

PowerShell

The following example uses WinSCP .NET assembly from a PowerShell script. If you have another preferred language, you can easily translate it.

param (
    $localPath = "c:\downloaded",
    $remotePath = "/home/user"
)
 
try
{
    # Load WinSCP .NET assembly
    Add-Type -Path "WinSCPnet.dll"
 
    # Setup session options
    $sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
        Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
        HostName = "example.com"
        UserName = "user"
        Password = "mypassword"
        SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xxxxxxxxxxx..."
    }
 
    $session = New-Object WinSCP.Session
 
    try
    {
        # Connect
        $session.Open($sessionOptions)
 
        # Get list of files in the directory
        $directoryInfo = $session.ListDirectory($remotePath)
 
        # Select the most recent file
        $latest =
            $directoryInfo.Files |
            Where-Object { -Not $_.IsDirectory } |
            Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
            Select-Object -First 1
 
        # Any file at all?
        if ($latest -eq $Null)
        {
            Write-Host "No file found"
            exit 1
        }
 
        # Download the selected file
        $session.GetFileToDirectory($latest.FullName, $localPath) | Out-Null
    }
    finally
    {
        # Disconnect, clean up
        $session.Dispose()
    }
 
    exit 0
}
catch
{
    Write-Host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    exit 1
}

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C#

using System;
using System.Linq;
using WinSCP;
 
class Program
{
    static int Main(string[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            // Setup session options
            SessionOptions sessionOptions = new SessionOptions
            {
                Protocol = Protocol.Sftp,
                HostName = "example.com",
                UserName = "user",
                Password = "mypassword",
                SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xxxxxxxxxxx...",
            };
 
            using (Session session = new Session())
            {
                // Connect
                session.Open(sessionOptions);
 
                const string remotePath = "/home/user";
                const string localPath = @"C:\downloaded";
 
                // Get list of files in the directory
                RemoteDirectoryInfo directoryInfo = session.ListDirectory(remotePath);
 
                // Select the most recent file
                RemoteFileInfo latest =
                    directoryInfo.Files
                        .Where(file => !file.IsDirectory)
                        .OrderByDescending(file => file.LastWriteTime)
                        .FirstOrDefault();
 
                // Any file at all?
                if (latest == null)
                {
                    throw new Exception("No file found");
                }
 
                // Download the selected file
                session.GetFileToDirectory(latest.FullName, localPath);
            }
 
            return 0;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e);
            return 1;
        }
    }
}

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VB.NET

The following snippet selects the most recent file from a directory listing. Most of the remaining code should be trivial to translate from the above C# example.

Dim latest As RemoteFileInfo =
    directoryInfo.Files _
        .Where(Function(file) Not file.IsDirectory) _
        .OrderByDescending(Function(file) file.LastWriteTime) _
        .FirstOrDefault()

Using WinSCP Scripting

Use the -latest switch of the get command:

get -latest /home/user/* c:\downloaded\

Alternatives

Some of following alternatives can be easier to implement or actually even more appropriate for your specific task:

Further Reading

Last modified: by martin