Copy a file over SSH without SCP

uuencode -m <filename> <filename>

I have come across multiple situations where I could only get to a server from a very restrictive bounce point which would not allow file transfers. I was able to uuencode a file, copy the output to a text file over putty, and then uudecode the file to transfer it. This works with any kind of file.

Sample Output

On the source server:
~$ cat test.txt
testing uuencode
~$ uuencode test.txt test.txt
begin 644 test.txt
1=&5S=&EN9R!U=65N8V]D90H`
`
end


On the destination server:
~$ cat test.txt.uu
begin 644 test.txt
1=&5S=&EN9R!U=65N8V]D90H`
`
end
~$ uudecode test.txt.uu
~$ cat test.txt
testing uuencode

-4

By: leprasmurf

2009-12-22 15:28:59

uuencode uuencode uudecode file transfer

4 Alternatives + Submit Alt

Copy a file over SSH without SCP
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

ssh HOST cat < LOCALFILE ">" REMOTEFILE

Mandark · 2009-12-22 16:35:34 8
Copy a file over SSH without SCP

Nice command for when you don't have scp available for whatever reason. Works with binaries.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
0

cat LOCALFILE | ssh HOST "cat > REMOTEFILE"

eataudio · 2011-02-03 05:29:06 5
Copy a file over SSH without SCP

cat didn't seem to work with binaries to well for me, the above command seemed to do the trick. Opps should be pointed out its going through a "hop" box (which is why I was searching here in first place), only need the last bit (after the -t) if doing it directly from one box to another...
This is sample output - yours may be different.
0

ssh username1@servername1 -t ssh username2@servername2 uuencode -m testfile1.tar - | uudecode > testfile1.tar

djt78 · 2013-01-28 17:06:00 5
Copy a file over SSH without SCP
This is sample output - yours may be different.
0

cat file | ssh user@remotehost "cat > file"

luckyone777 · 2017-07-26 20:36:02 18

What Others Think

rahimhh21 · 109 weeks and 5 days ago

Perfecthomepugs · 101 weeks and 1 day ago

pugpuppies95 · 63 weeks and 2 days ago

yeneba6574 · 18 weeks and 2 days ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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