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windowsftpwindows-explorer

FTP list command output view in Windows Explorer are not in proper format

I'm developing a FTP server. For LIST command, response is formatted in the following format.

18-06-19 10:41     DIR             0    Backup(D)
31-10-17 08:23                    1412    Backup.bat

The above format is not viewable while in folder format using FTP in Windows Explorer.

Can any one please suggest whats the exact format of LIST command response which is compatible to command line and folder view?

Solution

  • There's no standard listing format for FTP LIST command. Though there are some widely used formats, which are supported by Windows File Explorer:

    • The standard *nix format (used by most FTP servers)

      drwxr-xr-x 1 user group           0 Jan 23  2019 folder
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group          23 Jun 05 10:13 name.txt

    • The DOS/Windows format (used by IIS by default – it also optionally supports the format above):

      01-30-18  04:34PM       <DIR>          folder
01-02-19  01:12PM                   23 name.txt

    Windows command-line client does not care. It displays the listing as it comes from the server, without any attempt to interpret it.