PowerShell

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.

Chilkat PowerShell Downloads

Download Chilkat for PowerShell

PowerShell

Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $false

$ftp = New-Object 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 -eq $false) {
    $($ftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Non-ASCII remote paths and listings are now encoded/decoded as UTF-8.
$listing = $ftp.GetTextDirListing("")
if ($ftp.LastMethodSuccess -eq $false) {
    $($ftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$($listing)

$success = $ftp.Disconnect()
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($ftp.LastErrorText)
    exit
}