Visual FoxPro

Resolve an Absolute Remote Path with SFTP RealPath

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.RealPath method, which asks the server to canonicalize a path and returns the resulting absolute remote path. The first argument is the original path and the second is an optional compose path (SFTP v5 or later); pass an empty string when no composition is needed.

Background: The server — not the client — owns the remote filesystem's layout, so path canonicalization must happen on the server. RealPath resolves ., .., and symbolic links into a single absolute path, which is the reliable way to learn the session's home directory (canonicalize .) or to turn a relative path into an absolute one before storing or displaying it. On SFTP v5 and later, the compose path can additionally join or override the original.

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LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL loSftp
LOCAL lnPort
LOCAL lcPassword
LOCAL lcHomeDir
LOCAL lcResolved

lnSuccess = 0

*  Demonstrates the SFtp.RealPath method, which asks the server to canonicalize a path and
*  returns the resulting absolute remote path.  The 1st argument is the original path and the
*  2nd is an optional compose path (SFTP v5+), which may be an empty string.

loSftp = CreateObject('Chilkat.SFtp')

*  Step 1: Connect the SSH transport.  Port 22 is the usual port.
lnPort = 22
lnSuccess = loSftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",lnPort)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
*  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
lcPassword = "mySshPassword"

lnSuccess = loSftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",lcPassword)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  Step 3: Open the SFTP subsystem.  This must be done after authentication and before any
*  file or directory operations.
lnSuccess = loSftp.InitializeSftp()
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  Resolve "." to the absolute path of the session's default (home) directory.  No compose path
*  is needed, so the 2nd argument is an empty string.
lcHomeDir = loSftp.RealPath(".","")
IF (loSftp.LastMethodSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "Home directory: " + lcHomeDir

*  Canonicalize a relative path with "..", resolving it to an absolute path.
lcResolved = loSftp.RealPath("subdir/../otherdir","")
IF (loSftp.LastMethodSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "Resolved path: " + lcResolved

loSftp.Disconnect()

RELEASE loSftp