Downloading the most recent file

Using WinSCP .NET Assembly
- PowerShell
- C#
Using WinSCP Scripting
Alternatives
Further Reading

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 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
    }
 
    $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
        $session.GetFiles($session.EscapeFileMask($remotePath + $latest.Name), $localPath).Check()
    }
    finally
    {
        # Disconnect, clean up
        $session.Dispose()
    }
 
    exit 0
}
catch [Exception]
{
    Write-Host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    exit 1
}

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 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx",
            };
 
            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.GetFiles(session.EscapeFileMask(remotePath + latest.Name), localPath).Check();
            }
 
            return 0;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e);
            return 1;
        }
    }
}

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:

Synchronizing a remote directory to a local directory (using synchronize local in scripting or Session.SynchronizeDirectories(SynchronizationMode.Local, …) in .NET assembly);
Downloading all files created in the last 24 hours (using file mask *>=1D; e.g. get -filemask="*>=1D" /home/user/*, or an equivalent in .NET assembly).
Downloading all files created today (using %TIMESTAMP% syntax to format file mask with today’s time constraint, e.g. get -filemask="*>=%TIMESTAMP#yyyy-mm-dd%" /home/user/*, or an equivalent in .NET assembly).

Downloading the most recent file

Using WinSCP .NET Assembly

PowerShell

C#

Using WinSCP Scripting

Alternatives

Further Reading

Documentation

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