#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# gets $FILE in $DIR from $HOST
#
# the following command line parameters are accepted:
#
# -h    host IP and port (ex: 192.168.1.1 22)
# -u    userid (ex: -u anonymous)
# -p    password (ex: -p your@email.com)
# -d    directory (ex: -d /pub/data/)
# -f    file    (ex: -f filename.txt)
#       NOTE: if -f is not passed, then the entire directory is downlo
+aded
 
$BadInput = "";
 
use Getopt::Long;
GetOptions("h=s" => \$HOST,
           "port=s" => \$PORT,
           "u=s" => \$USERNAME,
           "p=s" => \$PASSWORD,
           "d=s" => \$DIR,
           "f=s" => \$FILE);
 
use File::stat;
$fileinfo = stat("$ENV{HOME}.batchftprc");
 
if (!($HOST)) {
        print "No host specified\n";
        $BadInput = "Y";
}
if (!($USERNAME)) {
        print "No userid specified\n";
        $BadInput = "Y";
}
if (!($PASSWORD)) {
        print "No password specified\n";
}
if ((!($DIR)) and (!(-s("$ENV{HOME}/.batchftprc")))) {
        print "No directory specified\n";
        $BadInput = "Y";
}
 
if ($BadInput) {
        print "correct usage is: perl batchftp.pl --h=<HOST> [--port=<
+PORT>] --u=<USERID> --p=<PASSWORD> --d=<DIRECTORY> [--f=<FILENAME>]\n
+";
        print "items enclosed in [] are optional\n";
        print "-d is required unless $ENV{HOME}/.batchftprc exists\n";
        print "probably want to use & as well\n";
        exit;
}
 
if ($DIR) {
        push(@dir, $DIR);
}
else {
        open(CONFIG, "$ENV{HOME}/.batchftprc") or die "-d not specifie
+d and could not open $ENV{HOME}/.batchftprc: $!";
        while (chomp($DIR = <CONFIG>)) {
                push(@dir, $DIR);
        }
}
use Net::FTP;

 
$ftp = Net::FTP->new("$HOST $PORT")       or die "can't connect to $HO
+ST: $!\n";
$ftp->login($USERNAME, $PASSWORD)         or die "can't login: $!\n";
foreach $DIR (@dir) {
        $ftp->cwd($DIR)                   or die "can't change to $DIR
+: $!\n";
 
        if ($FILE) {
                $ftp->get($FILE)          or die "can't get $FILE: $!\
+n";
        }
        else {
                @list = $ftp->ls          or die "can't get ls: $!\n";
                foreach $FILE (@list) {
                        $ftp->get($FILE)  or die "in foreach can't get
+ $FILE: $!\n";
                }
        }
}
$ftp->quit;
[download]

The format of .batchftprc is:

/directory01/whatever
/directory02
/directory03/whatever/you/want
[download]

Hope this helps.

If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me.

  #!/usr/bin/perl -w
  use strict;
  use Net::FTP;

  my $ftp = Net::FTP->new("ftp.cpan.org", Debug => 1);

  $ftp->login("anonymous", 'boutros@boutros-ghali.com');
  $ftp->cwd("/pub/CPAN");
  $ftp->get("README", '/tmp/CPAN-README');
  $ftp->quit;
[download]

  Net::FTP: Net::FTP(2.58)
  Net::FTP:   Exporter(5.562)
  Net::FTP:   Net::Cmd(2.19)
  Net::FTP:   IO::Socket::INET(1.25)
  Net::FTP:     IO::Socket(1.26)
  Net::FTP:       IO::Handle(1.21)

  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 220 siobhra.indigo.ie FTP server (Version
+ 6.00) ready.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> user anonymous
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 331 Guest login ok, send your email addre
+ss as password.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> PASS ....
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions a
+pply.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> CWD /pub/CPAN
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 250 CWD command successful.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> PORT 62,136,150,113,192,10
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 200 PORT command successful.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> RETR README
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection fo
+r 'README' (1941 bytes).
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 226 Transfer complete.
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)>>> QUIT
  Net::FTP=GLOB(0x1c1dbc)<<< 221 Goodbye.
[download]

warn $ftp->message();
[download]