The TCP/IP Guide  9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)       9  TCP/IP Key Applications and Application Protocols            9  TCP/IP File and Message Transfer Applications and Protocols (FTP, TFTP, Electronic Mail, USENET, HTTP/WWW, Gopher)                 9  TCP/IP General File Transfer Protocols (FTP and TFTP)                      9  File Transfer Protocol (FTP)                           9  FTP Commands and Replies

FTP Internal Protocol Commands and Command Groups 1 2 3 4 5 FTP User Interface and User Commands

FTP Multiple-Line Text Replies

It is possible for a reply to contain more than one line of text. In this case, each line starts with the reply code, and all lines but the last have a hyphen between the reply code and the reply text, to indicate that the reply continues. The last line has a space between the reply code and reply text, just like a single-line reply. This facility is often used to provide additional response information after a user logs in, via the 230 reply code. Table 231 contains an example.

As mentioned before, the actual text string for each reply code is implementation-specific. You can sometimes find some rather humorous text strings associated with some of these error messages. For example, I tried some commands using the FreeBSD FTP client on one of my Internet accounts. If you try to send or receive a file before you are logged in, it doesn't return an error like “Requested action not taken. File unavailable”. It tells me “Login first, then I might let you do that.”. Laugh… what an attitude these computers have today! J

FTP Internal Protocol Commands and Command Groups 1 2 3 4 5 FTP User Interface and User Commands