# FTP Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 26, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026 "2003-09-26T19:25:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ZomZom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZomZom)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026/1 "2003-09-26T19:25:48Z")
I have a site with lots of subfolders which hold htm and jpg files. Often I’ll want to quickly refresh my local copy of the site and just want to download the htm files. Is there a way to do this with WS\_FTP? I’ve figured out how to do it with Dreamweaver but I don’t like Dreamweaver’s FTP.
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### Author:  [@sgreen4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sgreen4)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026/2 "2003-09-26T20:30:46Z")
## yes. If you check the ws\_ftp help file. You’ll see stuff like:
Transferring Multiple Files
There are two ways to transfer multiple files:
· Use the \* or ? wildcards in the filename.
· Use the -m argument and place the transfer commands in a file.
Using Wildcard Characters to Transfer Multiple Files
You can use the \* and ? characters in filenames to specify multiple files. The following command downloads all zip files in the download directory on [ftp.ipswitch.com](http://ftp.ipswitch.com) to a local directory:
ftp95pro [ftp.ipswitch.com](http://ftp.ipswitch.com):\download\*.zip local:c:\download\
Using the -m argument
You can use the -m argument to invoke a file that contains multiple file transfer commands.
-m filename\_of\_file\_containing\_args
where file is a file that contains the file transfer commands specified using the syntax shown above. Note that you do not enter the command itself (ftp95pro) in this file. For example, you can specify the command as:
ftp95pro -m transfer.txt
where transfer.txt contains the following lines:
[ftp.wicket.com](http://ftp.wicket.com):/etc/hosts local:/vmunix
[ftp.wicket.com](http://ftp.wicket.com):/etc/hosts local:/vmunix2
## Each text line must contain only one command line. You can use any of the command line arguments in the transfer file. Multiple lines will be treated as a connect/transfer/disconnect for each line. If a directory transfer is specified, it will complete in one connection.
If you want to , you can create a .bat file so that you don’t have to keep typing the command to do the ftping.
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### Author:  [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026/3 "2003-09-26T20:57:10Z")
Or just pop out to a command prompt, type ftp, hit enter. Type open \, follow the login prompts, and use mget \*.htm.
What could be easier?
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026/4 "2003-09-26T22:01:28Z")
Does mget get the contents of subdirectories?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ftp-question/204026/5 "2003-09-26T22:17:46Z")
You can also write an FTP command file to do it all automatically. Then you only type one command.