PHP ActiveX

Set FTP Command and Directory-Listing Charsets

Demonstrates the CommandCharset and DirListingCharset properties, which control how non-ASCII text is encoded in commands (including remote paths and filenames) and how directory-listing responses are decoded.

Background: FTP predates Unicode, so servers vary in how they encode filenames; getting non-ASCII names right means matching the server's encoding on both sides. CommandCharset (default ANSI) governs outgoing paths and filenames, while DirListingCharset governs decoding of LIST/NLST/MLSD replies. Modern servers typically use UTF-8 — often negotiated automatically via OPTS UTF8 ON — but setting these explicitly resolves mojibake with servers that do not advertise it.

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<?php

$success = 0;

$ftp = new COM("Chilkat.Ftp2");

$ftp->Hostname = 'ftp.example.com';
$ftp->Username = 'myFtpLogin';

//  CommandCharset is the encoding used for commands containing non-ASCII text, including remote
//  paths and filenames.  The default is ANSI; set utf-8 when the server uses UTF-8 filenames.
$ftp->CommandCharset = 'utf-8';

//  DirListingCharset is used only to decode directory-listing responses (LIST, NLST, MLSD).  It
//  does not affect commands or paths.
$ftp->DirListingCharset = 'utf-8';

//  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.
$ftp->Password = 'myPassword';

$success = $ftp->Connect();
if ($success == 0) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  Non-ASCII remote paths and listings are now encoded/decoded as UTF-8.
$listing = $ftp->getTextDirListing('');
if ($ftp->LastMethodSuccess == 0) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

print $listing . "\n";

$success = $ftp->Disconnect();
if ($success == 0) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}


?>