in reply to Re^2: Net::FTP wildcard delete?
in thread Net::FTP wildcard delete?

No, "The file list is expanded on the remote machine" does not imply "MDEL is an FTP command". The list is expanded remotely by issuing an NLST command (as shown below). MDEL is not an FTP command.

ftp> prompt Interactive mode off. ftp> debug <-- Don't need a packet sniffer Debugging on (debug=1). ftp> quote MDEL yoink* <-- remote MDEL ---> MDEL yoink* 500 MDEL yoink*: command not understood. ftp> mdel yoink* <-- local MDEL ---> EPSV ---> NLST yoink* <-- remote expantion ---> DELE yoink <-- individual deletes 250 DELE command successful. ---> DELE yoinks 250 DELE command successful.

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Re^4: Net::FTP wildcard delete?
by dsheroh (Monsignor) on Jun 09, 2006 at 23:04 UTC
    Don't forget the context of my post, namely that I was replying to someone saying they were unsure of whether the wildcard is handled by the client or the server. I didn't mean to imply that MDEL was an FTP command, only that it "Looks like the server does [the wildcard expansion]."

    And thanks for the fuller explanation that NLST is the method by which the wildcard expansion is passed off to the server. I was kind of wondering how the client managed to put in the prompts for each file if the server handled the expansion.