* not interpreted in ftp, lftp?

Question

I'd been seeing that * isn't interpreted on ftp or lftp. Suppose I want to change a directory from current to say ./japan

In ftp> of lftp>, if I give:

$ cd jap*

it would show this error:

No such file or directory

So, I'm forced to give the complete name:

$ cd japan

EDIT #1

@thomas, @gold: Thank you for your valuable information. As * isn't interpreted with all commands (like cd), is there any way so that I can get away from typing every time the complete file name.

What are you asking? I don't see a question being asked here... — John, Oct 07 '13 at 13:16
It sounds like you are confusing [shell file expansion](http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_03_04.html#sect_03_04_08) with ftp client features. [`lftp`](http://linux.die.net/man/1/lftp) supports wildcard expansion with the `mput`, `mget` and `mrm` commands. — Thomas Nyman, Oct 07 '13 at 13:17
To elaborate: the `cd` command in `ftp` is *similar* to the shell's `cd`, but they are not the same, and `ftp` is not a `sh`. — goldilocks, Oct 07 '13 at 13:45
Do you mean get away *without* typing the complete file name? — kurtm, Oct 07 '13 at 15:10
@kurtm Yes you are right. I'm sorry. I am editing the sentence. — Ravi, Oct 07 '13 at 15:54

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 07 '13 at 15:19

If you're using lftp you can use the Tab key to do path completion similar to the same method used when in a shell such as Bash or Zsh.

If you continue to hit Tab as you type it will complete as much of what matches. You can continue to type additional characters from the results of what's left that matches what you're typed thus far.

Example

Initially after connecting to an SFTP server.

lftp me@sftpserver:~> pwd
sftp://me@sftpserver/home/me

It I type cd u and then hit Tab one time it will complete this:

lftp me@sftpserver:~> cd upload/

If I hit it a 2nd time:

lftp me@sftpserver:~> cd upload/
2011-07-12/  a/

If I type a 2 and hit Tab another time it will complete like this:

lftp me@sftpserver:~> cd upload/2011-07-12/

At which point if you hit Enter it will run the above cd command.

* not interpreted in ftp, lftp?

EDIT #1

1 Answers1

Example