I'm looking for the command line function that will fetch a file from
another unix box from Linux.  Thanks.

There are a multitude of ways to copy files from one Unix box to
another.  Since you didn't specify any particular parameters, I'll
list the best ones to use and explain how to use them.

My first choice would be secure copy (scp).  Secure copy opens a
secure shell tunnel to the remote machine and then copies the file. 
The login and file transfer is much more secure than using a plain
text protocol like FTP.  Here is a document that explains scp usage:

http://www.siliconvalleyccie.com/linux-hn/ssh-server.htm#_Toc57734093

You can also get information on the syntax by typing 'man scp' on your
Linux machine.  An scp command will look something like this:

'scp user@remote.machine.dom:file/to/get localfilename'

If you are not at all concerned about security or if one machine or
the other does not have the secure shell software installed, you can
use remote file copy (man rcp).  The syntax is the same as scp, a
document explaining how to use rcp can be found here:

http://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/man1/rcp.1.asp

An example command line for rcp would look like this:

'rcp user@remote.machine.dom:file/to/get localfilename'

Some other possible utilities are 'ftp' if the remote server is
running an ftp server.  'wget' if the remote file is available through
a web server.

Search strategy

I found the scp and rcp instructions by searching through Google for
the terms 'secure copy howto' and 'rcp file copy':

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=secure+copy+howto
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=rcp+file+copy&btnG=Google+Search

I hope this gives you all the information you need.  If you had
something else in particular in mind, just ask for a clarification and
I will be happy to respond.

Good luck!
Weaver

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Request for Answer Clarification by johngl-ga on 29 Jan 2004 17:46 PST

Are these commands native to linux?  I don't have them on any of my boxes.

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Clarification of Answer by weaver-ga on 29 Jan 2004 17:56 PST

These commands have been present on every Linux (actually every Unix)
system that I've ever used.

There might be several issues.  The directory they are in may not be
in your path.  Try typing 'locate scp' or 'locate rcp' and see if the
location of the binary is returned.  You may have to add the directory
to your path or just type in the full path to the binary file.

Are you the administrator of the Linux box?  If so, let me know what
distribution of Linux you are using and I can help you install these
handy programs if they are not already there.

Let me know if there are any more issues!
Weaver

Just perfect.  Very clear and complete.

I'm glad my answer helped you out!  Thanks for the great rating!

Weaver