How do I simply transfer and download a file from an FTP server with Python?

Question

I've noticed that the FTP library doesn't seem to have a method or function of straight up downloading a file from an FTP server. The only function I've come across for downloading a file is ftp.retrbinary and in order to transfer the file contents, you essentially have to write the contents to a pre-existing file on the local computer where the Python script is located.

Is there a way to download the file as-is without having to create a local file first?

Edit: I think the better question to ask is: do I need to have a pre-existing file in order to download an FTP server file's contents?

Take at look at the stdlib ftplib - https://docs.python.org/2/library/ftplib.html — user590028, Sep 04 '15 at 20:39
Yep, I'm using `ftp.retrbinary` from that library. Just wondering if this method or function doesn't need a pre-existing file — simplycoding, Sep 04 '15 at 20:52
Here's a conversation that might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4696413/ftp-retrbinary-help-python — David S Jackson, Sep 04 '15 at 21:43

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 15 '16 at 13:24

0

To download a file from FTP this code will do the job

import urllib urllib.urlretrieve('ftp://server/path/to/file', 'file') # if you need to pass credentials: # urllib.urlretrieve('ftp://username:password@server/path/to/file', 'file')

answered Nov 15 '16 at 13:24

Ayyoub

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How do I simply transfer and download a file from an FTP server with Python?

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