IBM Mainframe Forum

We need to pick up several files with the same prefix and transfer the files from the server to mainframe via mainframe FTP.
I reviewed the FTP manual and do not see an option to wild card the files? Is there a command to handle this? Thanks.

Files in C:\file_folders

file1.txt
file2.txt
file3.txt
file4.txt
.......

For FTP, most of the major commands have a single file command and a multiple file command counterpart. For file transfer activity, the following are standard FTP commands:

GET - Use the Get subcommand to copy a file from the remote host to your local host.

MGET - Use the MGet subcommand to copy multiple files from a remote host to your local host and create a corresponding number of local files.

PUT - Use the PUt subcommand to copy a dataset from your local host to the remote host.

MPUT - Use the MPut subcommand to copy multiple datasets from your local host to the remote host.

My preference for your situation, is to first use DIR or LS to retrieve a directory listing of all of the target remote file names. Then, build individual GET statements for each filename listed. You have to be careful using the wildcard-type commands since they will be executed on the remote server, and can cause memory shortages if the remoter server has a lot of FTP activity running on it. And, of course, you have to have an pre-existing agreement for the file naming standards used for both ends of the transfer.

MrSpock, thanks for your reply. As this will be an automate daily process and the total number of files in the folder is varied on a daily basis,
will it work if I use the MGET and change the mainframe dataset to disp=MOD instead of disp=OLD?

Please review the documentation on the various FTP commands. The DDNAME support is only available for the PUT and GET commands. Like I said, for MGET and MPUT you and the other site need to agree on file names since they can't be renamed in transit. If you REALLY want to use MGET, then I'd suggest that your local dataset be a PDS, with each file retrieved via MGET as a unique member name.