Jesse L. Palmer

I created this script to download files from a remote server using Python and its FTP class. The script will only download files and not directories.  To get started all you need to do is to replace the parts of code at the bottom that have comments marked TODO.  Feel free to use this script for whatever purposes you need.

# File:               download_files.py
# Date Created:       15 Oct 2010
# Description:        Downloads files from a remote server onto a local server.  The script will not download directories though.
# Author:             Jesse L. Palmer, www.jesselpalmer.com
#
# References:         http://docs.python.org/library/ftplib.html
#                     http://postneo.com/stories/2003/01/01/beyondTheBasicPythonFtplibExample.html
#
# Version:            1.0
# Last Modified:      15 Nov 2010
# Python Version:     3.1
# Notes:              Feel free to use this script, modify it, use it as decoration, or whatever else you can think of. 

import os
from ftplib import FTP
import time

# Connects to remote ftp server
def connect_ftp(hostname, username, password, source_directory, destination_directory):
    os.chdir(destination_directory)

    print("Connecting to " + hostname + "...")
    ftp = FTP(hostname)
    ftp.login(username, password)

    print(ftp.getwelcome())
    print("Connected Successfully!\n")

    ftp.cwd(source_directory)

    download_files(ftp)

# Download files
def download_files(ftp):
    print("This script will only download files, not directories.")
    print("Files at " + source_directory + ":\n")
    ftp.retrlines("LIST")

    file_list = []
    ftp.retrlines("NLST", file_list.append)

    print("")

    i = 0
    for filename in file_list:
        if (filename != '.') and (filename != '..'):
            print("Downloading " + filename + "...")
            try:
                ftp.retrbinary("RETR " + filename, open(filename, "wb").write)
                i=i+1
            except Exception as directory_error:
                print ("Oops! Was " + filename + " a directory? I won't download directories.")

    print(str(i) + " files successfully downloaded.\n")

    disconnect_ftp(ftp)

# Disconnects from ftp server
def disconnect_ftp(ftp):
    print("Disconnecting from " + hostname + "...")
    ftp.quit()
    print("Disconnected from " + hostname + ".")
    time.sleep(4)

hostname = "remotedirectory"     # TODO: Replace with the hostname of the server you want to connect to
username = "username"     # TODO: Replace the username
password = "password"     # TODO: Replace the password
source_directory = "remote/directory/file/path"     # TODO: Change location to wherever you want to start the download
destination_directory = "local/directory/file/path"     # TODO: Change the location of where you want to download the files to

connect_ftp(hostname, username, password, source_directory, destination_directory)

Source code