ftp_get()

What is ftp_get()?

ftp_get() is a PHP built-in function that downloads a file from an FTP server and writes it to a local file on your machine. It is the read counterpart of ftp_put(), which uploads. Use it whenever you need to pull a file (a backup, a log, a report) from a remote server over FTP.

This page covers what ftp_get() does, its parameters and return value, a complete working flow (connect → log in → download → close), how to handle failures, and the common gotchas that trip people up (transfer mode, passive mode, and resuming partial downloads).

Parameters

ftp_get() takes five parameters — three required and two optional:

Return value

The function returns a boolean: true on success, false on failure. Always check it — a failed download does not throw an exception by default.

FTP_BINARY vs FTP_ASCII

FTP_BINARY transfers the file byte-for-byte and is correct for almost everything: images, PDFs, archives, executables, and even most text files. FTP_ASCII performs automatic line-ending conversion between the server and client conventions, so use it only for plain-text files where you actually want that conversion. Using FTP_ASCII on a binary file will corrupt it, so when in doubt, choose FTP_BINARY.

Syntax of ftp_get()

bool ftp_get ( resource $ftp_stream , string $local_file , string $remote_file [, int $mode = FTP_BINARY [, int $resumepos = 0 ]] )

Note: In PHP 8.1+, the resource type for FTP connections was replaced by an Ftp\Connection object, and the mode parameter became optional (defaulting to FTP_BINARY). The legacy resource signature above is kept for backward compatibility — your code does not need to change.

Usage of ftp_get()

To use ftp_get(), you first establish a connection with ftp_connect() and authenticate with ftp_login(). Here is the full flow:

Downloading a file with ftp_get()

<?php
// 1. Set up an FTP connection
$conn = ftp_connect('ftp.example.com');
if (!$conn) {
    die("Could not connect to FTP server.\n");
}

// 2. Log in with your FTP credentials
if (!ftp_login($conn, 'username', 'password')) {
    ftp_close($conn);
    die("Login failed.\n");
}

// 3. Switch to passive mode (required behind most firewalls/NAT)
ftp_pasv($conn, true);

// 4. Download the remote file into a local path
if (ftp_get($conn, '/local/directory/local_file.txt', 'remote_file.txt', FTP_BINARY)) {
    echo "File retrieved successfully.\n";
} else {
    echo "Failed to retrieve the file.\n";
}

// 5. Close the FTP connection
ftp_close($conn);

The steps are always the same: connect, log in, optionally enable passive mode, download, then close. Passive mode (ftp_pasv()) is enabled here because most clients sit behind a firewall or NAT and active-mode transfers would otherwise hang or fail. Note that you must call ftp_pasv() after logging in.

Error handling in ftp_get()

ftp_get() returns false on failure rather than throwing, so check the return value explicitly. Common causes are a missing remote file, insufficient permissions, or a local path that is not writable. PHP also emits a warning, which you can capture for logging:

Capturing the reason a download failed

<?php
// $conn is an open, logged-in FTP connection
$ok = @ftp_get($conn, '/local/directory/local_file.txt', 'remote_file.txt', FTP_BINARY);

if ($ok === false) {
    $error = error_get_last();
    echo "Failed to retrieve the file: " . ($error['message'] ?? 'unknown error') . "\n";
} else {
    echo "File retrieved successfully.\n";
}

The @ suppresses the raw PHP warning so you can format your own message, while error_get_last() still gives you the underlying detail for a log.

Resuming an interrupted download

The optional resumepos parameter lets you continue a download that was cut off, instead of starting over. Pass the current size of the partially downloaded local file as the byte offset:

Resuming with resumepos

<?php
// $conn is an open, logged-in FTP connection
$local = '/local/directory/big_archive.zip';

// Continue from however many bytes we already have locally
$offset = file_exists($local) ? filesize($local) : 0;

if (ftp_get($conn, $local, 'big_archive.zip', FTP_BINARY, $offset)) {
    echo "Download complete.\n";
} else {
    echo "Resume failed.\n";
}

Resuming only works reliably with FTP_BINARY and on servers that support the REST command. For large transfers you can also look at the non-blocking variant ftp_nb_get(), which downloads in the background so your script can do other work.

Related functions

• ftp_put() — upload a local file to the server (the inverse of ftp_get()).
• ftp_fget() — download into an already-open file handle instead of a path.
• ftp_size() — get the size of a remote file before downloading.
• ftp_connect() and ftp_login() — open and authenticate the connection.
• ftp_close() — close the connection when you are done.

Summary

ftp_get() downloads a remote file over FTP and saves it locally, returning true on success and false on failure. Connect and log in first, prefer FTP_BINARY unless you specifically need ASCII line-ending conversion, enable passive mode when you are behind a firewall, and always check the return value so failures do not pass silently.

Practice