JS > FTP > web directory > filelist

Question

Is it possible to use Javascript to invoke a FTP call to a specified URL and retrieve all files in this webdirectory?

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Answer 1

Assuming you are talking about javascript in the browser, then this is not possible without some supporting server side code.

You can use javascript to make an ajax call to a server - the server can invoke FTP and retrieve a file list (or even the files) to the server. These can then be downloaded from the server.

Answer 2

9 years later things are much easier. Here is a standalone node.js example that shows how on the server side thing can be implemented with javascript theses days easily.

npm install
node index.js

index.js

// Test getting CSV Data from Deutscher Wetterdienst
const ftp = require('ftp')

var Client = require('ftp');

var c = new Client();
c.on('ready', function() {
  c.list('/pub/CDC/derived_germany/soil/daily/recent/',function(err, list) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.dir(list);
    c.end();
  });
});
// connect to localhost:21 as anonymous
c.connect({host:'ftp-cdc.dwd.de'});

package.json

  {
      "name": "ftp-test",
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "description": "ftp Test application",
      "main": "index.js",
      "dependencies": {
        "ftp": "^0.3.10"
      },
      "devDependencies": {},
      "scripts": {
        "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
      },
      "author": "Wolfgang Fahl",
      "license": "ISC"
    }