Inspect remote files with PowerShell

A lot of transfer automation should inspect first and act second. Transferetto includes listing and metadata cmdlets so a script can decide what to move before it starts writing or downloading content.

Common inspection tasks

• list the contents of a remote folder
• filter to files or directories
• inspect timestamps, sizes, and effective paths
• check the current working directory or switch into a known one
• test whether a path exists before creating or overwriting it

FTP inspection

Import-Module Transferetto

$ftpClient = Connect-FTP -Server 'ftp.example.com' -Credential (Get-Credential)
Get-FTPWorkingDirectory -Client $ftpClient
Get-FTPList -Client $ftpClient -Path '/public_html'
Get-FTPItem -Client $ftpClient -RemotePath '/public_html/index.html'
Get-FTPFileSize -Client $ftpClient -RemotePath '/public_html/index.html'
Disconnect-FTP -Client $ftpClient

SFTP inspection

Import-Module Transferetto

$sftpClient = Connect-SFTP -Server 'sftp.example.com' -Credential (Get-Credential)
Get-SFTPList -SftpClient $sftpClient -Path '/var/www/site'
Get-SFTPItem -SftpClient $sftpClient -Path '/var/www/site/index.html'
Get-SFTPChmod -SftpClient $sftpClient -Path '/var/www/site/index.html'
Disconnect-SFTP -SftpClient $sftpClient

Why this matters

Inspection first makes scripts safer. It lets you filter down to the items you actually want, review metadata, and make overwrite or cleanup decisions from the data the server is returning right now.

Related pages

• Transfer files with PowerShell
• Manage SFTP permissions example
• Inspect FTP files and folders example