Use SCP for quick, secure file transfers

SCP, short for "Secure Copy", is a command line utility designed to transfer files across the network.

Its interface is a work-alike for the venerable rcp utility, but the scp command provides the additional benefit of an encrypted transfer using the SSH protocol. If you have the standard OpenSSH suite installed on your system, you have SCP.

Because SCP is a one-shot command line tool, transferring files once for every time you type the command without showing the directory hierarchy on the far side of the connection, it is probably most suitable to repeatedly update a single file or directory on a remote system after changes are made. In more general terms, it is useful for the same uses to which you would put the cp command when transferring files from one place to another on a single local system, but designed for use across network connections between computers that both have an SSH suite installed.

For the command syntax for SCP, as described in the Unix manpage and more see the rest of the article on TechRepublic.