Scripting/Automation

See command-line parameters to learn how to enter the console/scripting mode.

For automation, commands can be read from a script file specified by /script switch, from standard input or passed from the command-line using the /command switch.

By default an interactive mode is used (the user is prompted in the same way as in GUI mode). To switch to a batch mode (all prompts are automatically answered negatively) use the command option batch on. For the batch mode it is recommended to turn off confirmations using option confirm off to allow overwrites (otherwise the overwrite confirmation prompt would be answered negatively, making overwrites impossible).

Multiple sessions can be opened simultaneously. Use the session command to switch between them.

Note that the first connection to an SSH server requires verification of the host key.

WinSCP returns exit code 1, when any command is interrupted due to an error or any prompt is answered Abort (even automatically in batch mode). Otherwise it returns the exit code 0.

The following commands are implemented:

As WinSCP.exe is a GUI application, it cannot inherit the console window when run from another console application (such as the Windows command-prompt). To allow this, run WinSCP using the console interface tool WinSCP.com (you can find WinSCP.com in the main installation package).

With console interface tool you can also use input/output redirection and pipes.

The first connection to an SSH server requires verification of the host key. To automate the verification in script, you can use command-line parameter hostkey (or switch of open command with the same name) to accept the expected hostkey automatically.

You can find the fingerprint on Server and Protocol Information Dialog.

If you are going to run the script under a different account (for example using the Windows scheduler), note that WinSCP may store its configuration to the user part of Windows Registry by default. So you may need to either transfer the configuration from your account registry to the other account registry or use the INI file instead.

Note that the configuration also includes verified SSH host keys.

The example below connects to example.com server with account user, downloads file and closes the session. Then it connects to the same server with the account user2 and uploads the file back.

# Automatically answer all prompts negatively not to stall
# the script on errors
option batch on
# Disable overwrite confirmations that conflict with the previous
option confirm off
# Connect using a password
# open user:password@example.com
# Connect
open user@example.com
# Change remote directory
cd /home/user
# Force binary mode transfer
option transfer binary
# Download file to the local directory d:\
get examplefile.txt d:\
# Disconnect
close
# Connect as a different user
open user2@example.com
# Change the remote directory
cd /home/user2
# Upload the file to current working directory
put d:\examplefile.txt 
# Disconnect
close
# Exit WinSCP
exit

Save the script to the file example.txt. To execute the script file use the following command. As the script connects the session itself, using the command open, omit the session command-line parameter.

winscp.exe /console /script=example.txt

Instead of using open command you can also open a session using a command-line parameter.

winscp.exe /console /script=example.txt user@example.com

You can see list of scripts other users found useful.

For more tips, see also FAQs on scripting.