[command-line] SSH SCP Local file to Remote in Terminal Mac Os X

I am attempting to copy a local file 'magento.tar.gz' from my local machine to a remote server using SSH through a VPN. This is connecting to the Virtual Machine's Internal IP which I've used as xx.x.x.xx here.

I have full 'sudo' access on the SSH account so there shouldn't be any problem copying across. I have tried the following:

I have tried the following (the magento.tar.gz file is already in the local root dir)

sudo scp magento.tar.gz [email protected]/var/www/

This asks me to type in my local password. Afterwards returns cp: [email protected]/var/www: Not a directory

sudo scp /Users/myname/magento.tar.gz [email protected]/var/www/

Returns the same.

Do I need to include a SSH in there anywhere?

Do I need to connect via SSH to the site first?

Side note: I've managed to connect via SSH to the server, browse to the directory and make a folder and delete it using sudo mkdir etc so I definitely have permissions.

This question is related to command-line ssh terminal scp

The answer is


Watch that your file name doesn't have : in them either. I found that I had to mv blah-07-08-17-02:69.txt no_colons.txt and then scp no-colons.txt server: then don't forget to mv back on the server. Just in case this was an issue.


Just to clarify the answer given by JScoobyCed, the scp command cannot copy files to directories that require administrative permission. However, you can use the scp command to copy to directories that belong to the remote user.

So, to copy to a directory that requires root privileges, you must first copy that file to a directory belonging to the remote user using the scp command. Next, you must login to the remote account using ssh. Once logged in, you can then move the file to the directory of your choosing by using the sudo mv command. In short, the commands to use are as follows:

Using scp, copy file to a directory in the remote user's account, for example the Documents directory:

scp /path/to/your/local/file remoteUser@some_address:/home/remoteUser/Documents

Next, login to the remote user's account using ssh and then move the file to a restricted directory using sudo:

ssh remoteUser@some_address
sudo mv /home/remoteUser/Documents/file /var/www

Examples related to command-line

Git is not working after macOS Update (xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools) Flutter command not found Angular - ng: command not found how to run python files in windows command prompt? How to run .NET Core console app from the command line Copy Paste in Bash on Ubuntu on Windows How to find which version of TensorFlow is installed in my system? How to install JQ on Mac by command-line? Python not working in the command line of git bash Run function in script from command line (Node JS)

Examples related to ssh

Starting ssh-agent on Windows 10 fails: "unable to start ssh-agent service, error :1058" How to solve "sign_and_send_pubkey: signing failed: agent refused operation"? key_load_public: invalid format ssh connection refused on Raspberry Pi Getting permission denied (public key) on gitlab Verify host key with pysftp Can't connect to Postgresql on port 5432 Checkout Jenkins Pipeline Git SCM with credentials? How to open remote files in sublime text 3 how to setup ssh keys for jenkins to publish via ssh

Examples related to terminal

Git is not working after macOS Update (xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools) Can't compile C program on a Mac after upgrade to Mojave Flutter command not found VSCode Change Default Terminal How to switch Python versions in Terminal? How to open the terminal in Atom? Color theme for VS Code integrated terminal How to edit a text file in my terminal How to open google chrome from terminal? Switch between python 2.7 and python 3.5 on Mac OS X

Examples related to scp

Copying files from server to local computer using SSH How to copy a file from remote server to local machine? scp files from local to remote machine error: no such file or directory How to download a file from my server using SSH (using PuTTY on Windows) Using putty to scp from windows to Linux SCP Permission denied (publickey). on EC2 only when using -r flag on directories scp copy directory to another server with private key auth Run local python script on remote server Send password when using scp to copy files from one server to another How does `scp` differ from `rsync`?