What Is SCP Command? How to Use SCP Command in Linux

SCP Command is easier to understand when the core ideas are explained in practical terms. This guide covers what it means, how it works, why it matters, and the main details you should know.

What Is SCP Command?

SCP stands for Secure Copy Protocol, so we can understand that SCP Command is a command used to securely copy files and folders between computers, including transferring data between the local machine and a remote server, or between two remote servers. This command uses the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol to encrypt data during transmission, ensuring that sensitive information is not exposed.

SCP Command Syntax

The basic syntax of the SCP command is as follows:

Scp [options] [[user@]host1:]source_file_or_directory. [[user@]host2:]destination.

In there:

? [options]: Additional options to adjust the behavior of the SCP command.

? [[user@]host1:]: Source server address, can be local or remote.

? source_file_or_directory: The file or directory to copy from the source server.

? [[user@]host2:]: The destination server address where the file will be copied to.

? destination: Path to the destination directory on the destination server.

Some commonly used options with the SCP command include:

What is SCP Command?

Some Notes When Using SCP Command

The SCP command uses SSH to move data, requiring authentication with an SSH key or password. The colon (:) distinguishes between local and remote locations. Read permissions are required on the source file and write permissions on the destination system. This helps you copy files.

Note: SCP will overwrite files with the same name without warning, so be careful. For large files, it is recommended to run SCP in a screen or tmux session to avoid losing connections.

How to Use SCP Command in Linux

1. How to Securely Copy a File from Local Machine to Remote Machine

You use a command like the following: This helps you securely copy a file from the local computer to a remote computer.

Using the SCP command to copy files from your local machine to a remote server, such as a VPS, makes it easy to deploy web applications. You can quickly push updated files from your development environment to your server.

For instance, to copy the scp.zip file to the remote server with the root user, you use the following command:

Scp /users/Hostinger/desktop/scp.zip root@162.168.1.2:/write/post.

You'll be prompted for a password and shown a progress bar if you don't have an SSH key pair set up. SCP uses the default SSH port 22, but if you have a custom port, you can add the -P option:

Scp -P 2322 /users/Hostinger/desktop/scp.zip root@162.168.1.2:/writing/article.

Simply specify the new name in the destination folder: This helps you rename a transferred file.

Scp /users/Hostinger/desktop/scp.zip root@162.168.1.2:/writing/article/howtoscp.zip.

You can also copy directories recursively using the -r command to transfer multiple files at once:

Scp -r /users/Hostinger/desktop root@162.168.1.2:/write/post.

Additionally, you can copy multiple files by specifying their names:

Scp file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt root@.

2. How to Safely Copy a File from a Remote Computer to a Local Computer

Simply reverse the source and destination locations. This helps you transfer data from a remote system to your local machine using SCP. This allows you to download and work with the project file offline.

For instance, use the following command to pull the scp.zip file from the VPS to the local machine:

Scp root@162.168.1.2:/writing/articles/SCP.zip /Users/Hostinger/Desktop.

You will be prompted for your SSH password when you run this command. You will not need to enter a password if you have public key authentication set up.

3. How to Copy Files Between Two Remote Computers

SCP allows file transfers not only to or from the current server, but also between two remote Linux machines. This improves efficiency, especially when you have multiple projects on different machines, as you don't need to log into each system individually.

For instance, to transfer the scp.zip file from root@162.168.1.2 to hostinger@162.168.1.1, you would use the following command:

Scp root@162.168.1.2:/write/article/scp.zip hostinger@162.168.1.1:/publish.

You will need the SSH password for both accounts. By default, SCP routes data directly between remote machines, but you can route it through your local computer by adding the -3 option:

Scp -3 root@162.168.1.2:/write/article/scp.zip hostinger@162.168.1.1:/publish.

This option is useful when experiencing network errors between systems, although it can slow down the process and doesn't show a progress bar.

Conclude

SCP Command is not only a powerful tool for transferring data but also ensures the security of your information during the transmission process. Through the above instructions, hopefully you have mastered how to use SCP Command in Linux to perform file copy operations effectively.

Final Thoughts

The most reliable way to handle SCP command is to follow the process in order, verify each important setting, and test the result before moving on. Use the guidance above as a practical reference, then adjust the details for your device, software version, or specific goal.