Request Syntax Request Parameters Response Syntax Response Elements Errors Examples See Also

StartDirectoryListing

Retrieves a list of the contents of a directory from a remote SFTP server. You specify the connector ID, the output path, and the remote directory path. You can also specify the optional MaxItems value to control the maximum number of items that are listed from the remote directory. This API returns a list of all files and directories in the remote directory (up to the maximum value), but does not return files or folders in sub-directories. That is, it only returns a list of files and directories one-level deep.

After you receive the listing file, you can provide the files that you want to transfer to the RetrieveFilePaths parameter of the StartFileTransfer API call.

The naming convention for the output file is connector-ID-listing-ID.json. The output file contains the following information:

filePath: the complete path of a remote file, relative to the directory of the listing request for your SFTP connector on the remote server.
modifiedTimestamp: the last time the file was modified, in UTC time format. This field is optional. If the remote file attributes don't contain a timestamp, it is omitted from the file listing.
size: the size of the file, in bytes. This field is optional. If the remote file attributes don't contain a file size, it is omitted from the file listing.
path: the complete path of a remote directory, relative to the directory of the listing request for your SFTP connector on the remote server.
truncated: a flag indicating whether the list output contains all of the items contained in the remote directory or not. If your Truncated output value is true, you can increase the value provided in the optional max-items input attribute to be able to list more items (up to the maximum allowed list size of 10,000 items).

Request Syntax


{
   "ConnectorId": "string",
   "MaxItems": number,
   "OutputDirectoryPath": "string",
   "RemoteDirectoryPath": "string"
}

Request Parameters

For information about the parameters that are common to all actions, see Common Parameters.

The request accepts the following data in JSON format.

ConnectorId

The unique identifier for the connector.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Fixed length of 19.

Pattern: c-([0-9a-f]{17})

Required: Yes

MaxItems

An optional parameter where you can specify the maximum number of file/directory names to retrieve. The default value is 1,000.

Type: Integer

Valid Range: Minimum value of 1. Maximum value of 10000.

Required: No

OutputDirectoryPath

Specifies the path (bucket and prefix) in Amazon S3 storage to store the results of the directory listing.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 1024.

Pattern: (.)+

Required: Yes

RemoteDirectoryPath

Specifies the directory on the remote SFTP server for which you want to list its contents.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 1024.

Pattern: (.)+

Required: Yes

Response Syntax


{
   "ListingId": "string",
   "OutputFileName": "string"
}

Response Elements

If the action is successful, the service sends back an HTTP 200 response.

The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

ListingId

Returns a unique identifier for the directory listing call.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 512.

Pattern: [0-9a-zA-Z./-]+

OutputFileName

Returns the file name where the results are stored. This is a combination of the connector ID and the listing ID: <connector-id>-<listing-id>.json.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 26. Maximum length of 537.

Pattern: c-([0-9a-f]{17})-[0-9a-zA-Z./-]+.json

Errors

For information about the errors that are common to all actions, see Common Errors.

InternalServiceError

This exception is thrown when an error occurs in the AWS Transfer Family service.

HTTP Status Code: 500

InvalidRequestException

This exception is thrown when the client submits a malformed request.

HTTP Status Code: 400

ResourceNotFoundException

This exception is thrown when a resource is not found by the AWSTransfer Family service.

HTTP Status Code: 400

ServiceUnavailableException

The request has failed because the AWSTransfer Family service is not available.

HTTP Status Code: 500

ThrottlingException

The request was denied due to request throttling.

HTTP Status Code: 400

Examples

Example

The following example lists the contents of the home folder on the remote SFTP server, which is identified by the specified connector. The results are placed into the Amazon S3 location /DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/connector-files, and into a file named c-AAAA1111BBBB2222C-6666abcd-11aa-22bb-cc33-0000aaaa3333.json.

Sample Request


{    
    "ConnectorId": "c-AAAA1111BBBB2222C",
    "MaxItems": "10",
    "OutputDirectoryPath": "/DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/connector-files",
    "RemoteDirectoryPath": "/home"
}

Sample Response


{
    "ListingId": "6666abcd-11aa-22bb-cc33-0000aaaa3333",
    "OutputFileName": "c-AAAA1111BBBB2222C-6666abcd-11aa-22bb-cc33-0000aaaa3333.json"
}


// under bucket "DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET"
connector-files/c-AAAA1111BBBB2222C-6666abcd-11aa-22bb-cc33-0000aaaa3333.json
{
    "files": [
        {
            "filePath": "/home/what.txt",
            "modifiedTimestamp": "2024-01-30T20:34:54Z",
            "size" : 2323
        },
        {
            "filePath": "/home/how.pgp",
            "modifiedTimestamp": "2024-01-30T20:34:54Z",
            "size" : 51238
        }
    ],
    "paths": [
        {
            "path": "/home/magic"
        },
        {
            "path": "/home/aws"
        },
    ],
    "truncated": false
}