SFTP Read Text File to String

Demonstrates how to download a text file from an SSH server directly into a string variable.

Download Chilkat Ruby Library

require 'chilkat'

#  Important: It is helpful to send the contents of the
#  sftp.LastErrorText property when requesting support.

sftp = Chilkat::CkSFtp.new()

#  Any string automatically begins a fully-functional 30-day trial.
success = sftp.UnlockComponent("Anything for 30-day trial")
if (success != true)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  Set some timeouts, in milliseconds:
sftp.put_ConnectTimeoutMs(5000)
sftp.put_IdleTimeoutMs(15000)

#  Connect to the SSH server.
#  The standard SSH port = 22
#  The hostname may be a hostname or IP address.

hostname = "www.my-ssh-server.com"
port = 22
success = sftp.Connect(hostname,port)
if (success != true)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  Authenticate with the SSH server.  Chilkat SFTP supports
#  both password-based authenication as well as public-key
#  authentication.  This example uses password authenication.
success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("myLogin","myPassword")
if (success != true)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  After authenticating, the SFTP subsystem must be initialized:
success = sftp.InitializeSftp()
if (success != true)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  Open a file on the server:

handle = sftp.openFile("hamlet.xml","readOnly","openExisting")
if (handle == nil )
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  Get the total size of this file (in bytes)
bFollowLinks = false
bIsHandle = true

#  bFollowLinks is ignored because we are passing a handle
#  and not a remote filename.
#  There are atlernative methods for handling file sizes
#  greater than 32-bit.  (See the reference documentation.)
numBytes = sftp.GetFileSize32(handle,bFollowLinks,bIsHandle)
if (numBytes < 0)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

#  The charset indicates the character encoding of the text
#  file on the SSH server.   Setting the charset correctly
#  allows the Chilkat SFTP component to correctly interpret
#  the bytes that represent the characters.

charset = "ansi"
offset32 = 0

fileContents = sftp.readFileText32(handle,offset32,numBytes,charset)
if (fileContents == nil )
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
else
    print "Received file:" + "\n";
    print fileContents + "\n";
end

#  Close the file.
success = sftp.CloseHandle(handle)
if (success != true)
    print sftp.lastErrorText() + "\n"
    exit
end

print "Success." + "\n"