How to: Download files with FTP

This sample shows how to download a file from an FTP server.

Note

This article is specific to projects that target .NET Framework. For projects that target .NET 6 and later versions, FTP is no longer supported.

Example

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;

namespace Examples.System.Net
{
    public class WebRequestGetExample
    {
        public static void Main ()
        {
            // Get the object used to communicate with the server.
            FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/test.htm");
            request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile;

            // This example assumes the FTP site uses anonymous logon.
            request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("anonymous","janeDoe@contoso.com");

            FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

            Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
            Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadToEnd());

            Console.WriteLine($"Download Complete, status {response.StatusDescription}");

            reader.Close();
            response.Close();
        }
    }
}
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net

Namespace Examples.System.Net
    Public Module WebRequestGetExample
        Public Sub Main()
            ' Get the object used to communicate with the server.
            Dim request As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/test.htm"), FtpWebRequest)
            request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile

            ' This example assumes the FTP site uses anonymous logon.
            request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("anonymous", "janeDoe@contoso.com")

            Dim response As FtpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse)

            Dim responseStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()
            Dim reader As StreamReader = New StreamReader(responseStream)
            Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadToEnd())

            Console.WriteLine($"Download Complete, status {response.StatusDescription}")

            reader.Close()
            response.Close()
        End Sub
    End Module
End Namespace