Session URL

On command-line and in parameter of scripting command open, you can, in addition to using site (stored session) name, specify an ad-hoc session using URL.

The syntax is:

[ sftp|ftp|ftps|scp :// ][ <username> [ : <password> ] @ ] <host> [ : <port> ]

The only mandatory part is host. You should also always explicitly specify a protocol (sftp, ftp or scp, the ftps protocol is FTP over SSL/TLS).1 Most URL’s will include also username. The port needs to be specified only, when it differs from the default port for the protocol (22 for sftp/scp, 21 for ftp and 990 for ftps).

The host can either be a host name (such as example.com), an IPv4 address (such as 127.0.0.1) or an IPv6 address surrounded by square brackets (such as [2001:db8:85a3:8d3:1319:8a2e:370:7348]).

Special characters (like @ in username, see example below) have to be encoded using %XX syntax, where XX is hexadecimal ASCII code.

Common special characters are:

• space: %20 or +
• %: %25 (percent sign)
• +: %2B (plus sign)
• /: %2F (slash)
• @: %40 (at sign)

Examples:

sftp://martin:mypassword@example.com
martin%40example.com:4pRte!ai%253@example.com
sftp://root@example.com:2222
example.com
ftp://127.0.0.1:2121
ftp://[2001:db8:85a3:8d3:1319:8a2e:370:7348]:2121