Download a text file from an FTP server, using the ASCII transfer mode. After you download the file, set the transfer mode back to binary.

First, connect to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) FTP server.

ftpobj = ftp('ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov')

ftpobj = 

  FTP Object
     host: ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov
     user: anonymous
      dir: /
     mode: binary

The default transfer mode is binary. When you download a text file, you can use ASCII mode instead so that newline characters are converted correctly.

Set the transfer mode to ASCII. To show the current transfer mode, display the FTP object.

ascii(ftpobj)
ftpobj

ftpobj = 

  FTP Object
     host: ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov
     user: anonymous
      dir: /
     mode: ascii

Download a text file.

mget(ftpobj,'README.txt');

Use the ASCII transfer mode only for text files. To download nontext files, such as images or ZIP archives, use the binary transfer mode.

Set the transfer mode back to binary. To check that the mode is now binary, display the FTP object again.

binary(ftpobj)
ftpobj

ftpobj = 

  FTP Object
     host: ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov
     user: anonymous
      dir: /
     mode: binary

FTP service courtesy of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). See the NCEI Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Copyright for NCEI terms of service.