Batch file to download the latest file from FTP server

Question

I have a batch file that FTPs CSV files from my web server. I need to download only the most current CSV file.

How do I do that?

This is what I have so far:

open 44.44.44.444
username
password

CD /Client/ABCCompany/

get *.csv

quit
close()

Thanks.

Solution

There's no easy way to select the most recent file with the ftp.exe.

• If you know that the file has today's timestamp in its filename, you can generate the script dynamically with today's timestamp. You can use the DATE environment variable, though it has its caveats. A more reliable (and complex) way is to use the wmic os get LocalDateTime.

  See How do I get current date/time on the Windows command line in a suitable format for usage in a file/folder name?

• If you can determine the latest file alphabetically, you can:

  • run the ftp.exe with ls command redirected to a file
  • sort the file by alphabet in descending order
  • read the first line
  • generate download script for second ftp.exe run.

• WinSCP can download the latest file, using the -latest switch of the get command:

  winscp.com /command ^
      "open ftp://username:[email protected]/" ^
      "cd /remote/path" ^
      "get -latest *.csv" ^
      "exit"
  

  See also the guide to downloading the most recent file with WinSCP.

• WinSCP can also download the files created within some interval, e.g. the last 24-hours (1 day):

  winscp.com /command ^
      "open ftp://username:[email protected]/" ^
      "cd /remote/path" ^
      "get *.csv>=1D" ^
      "exit"
  

  or files created since some point in time, e.g. to download files created since midnight, use today keyword:

  winscp.com /command ^
      "open ftp://username:[email protected]/" ^
      "cd /remote/path" ^
      "get *.csv>=today" ^
      "exit"
  

  For the today keyword, make sure you have recent version of WinSCP.

• With WinSCP, you can implement a download of a file with a timestamp in filename more easily than with the DATE or the wmic os get LocalDateTime (as shown above). Use the %TIMESTAMP% syntax:

  winscp.com /command ^
      "open ftp://username:[email protected]/" ^
      "cd /remote/path" ^
      "get %%TIMESTAMP#yyyy-mm-dd%%.txt" ^
      "exit"
  

  (I'm the author of WinSCP)