Command Line Interface - Quick Overview

A command-line interface - is a way of interacting with a computer program where the user issues commands to the program in the form of successive lines of text (command lines).

Command-line interfaces are often preferred by more advanced computer users, as they often provide a more concise and powerful means to control a program or operating system.

Programs with command-line interfaces are generally easier to automate via scripting. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

S3 Browser provides you with the simple command line interface for the most common tasks to help you automate uploads, downloads and folder syncronization tasks.

To Access S3 Browser Command Line Tools

1. Press Win+R, the Run dialog will open

Windows Run Dialog

Type cmd and press Enter, Windows Command Line dialog will open

Change directory to S3 Browser installation folder

Type the following command to open S3 Browser installation folder (type your installation path if you installed S3 Browser in custom directory)

cd %ProgramFiles%\S3 Browser

And type the following command to run S3 Browser command line interface:

s3browser-con

S3 Browser Command Line Interface

Below we will describe available commands: list, upload, download, delete, sync and update-credentials

Command Line List

s3browser-con.exe list - allows you to list buckets

 Usage:
 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 s3browser-con.exe  list account[:password] [bucket/path]
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  account - account name you specified when adding an account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

  bucket/path - amazon s3 bucket name and path, leave it empty to list all buckets


 Examples:

  list account-name

  list account-name my-bucket

  list encrypted-account:85sd4df my-bucket/Docs

If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks.

Command Line Upload

s3browser-con.exe upload - allows you upload files and folders.

 Usage:
 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 s3browser-con.exe upload account[:password] local-path bucket/folder
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  account - account name you specified when adding an account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

  local-path - path to the file or directory on your disk (wildcards allowed)

  bucket/folder - amazon s3 bucket name and folder


 Examples:

  s3browser-con.exe upload my-account c:\backup my-bucket/backups

  s3browser-con.exe upload my-account c:\backup\*.bkf my-bucket

  s3browser-con.exe upload my-account "e:\my videos" "bucket-3/my videos"

  s3browser-con.exe upload encrypted-account:85sd4df F:\Docs bucket-4/Docs

If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks. Do not use traling backslash.

Command Line Download

s3browser-con.exe download - allows you download files and folders.

 Usage:
 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 s3browser-con.exe download account[:password] bucket/path local-path
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  account - account name you specified when adding an account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

  bucket/path - amazon s3 bucket name and path (limited support for wildcards)

  local-path - directory on your local disk


 Examples:

  s3browser-con.exe download my-account my-bucket/backups/ c:\downloads

  s3browser-con.exe download my-account my-bucket/backups/file.bak c:\downloads

  s3browser-con.exe download my-account "my-bucket/my backups/*" "c:\my downloads"

  s3browser-con.exe download encrypted-account:85sd4df my-bucket/Docs F:\Docs

If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks. Do not use traling backslash.

Command Line Delete

s3browser-con.exe delete - allows you delete files/folders/buckets via simple command line interface.

 Usage:
 
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 delete account[:password] bucket[/folder/file]
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  account - account name you specified when adding an account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

  bucket/folder/file - amazon s3 bucket name and optional path (limited support for wildcards)


 Examples:

  Delete entire bucket: delete my-account my-bucket 

  Delete entire directory: delete encrypted-account:password my-bucket/temp/
  Delete files by mask: delete my-account my-bucket/temp/*.bak

  Delete single file: delete my-account my-bucket/temp/file.ext

If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks. Do not use traling backslash.

Command Line Folder Sync Tool

s3browser-con.exe sync - Performs one-way synchronization between local and remote folder or vise versa.

 Usage:
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 s3browser-con.exe sync account[:password] source destination [options]
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  account - account name you specified when adding account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

  source, destination - local-folder and remote-path or vise versa

  local-folder - path to the directory located on your disk

  remote-path - bucket name and optional folder starting with s3: prefix 

  [options] - additional sync options, see below:

     ncd        file-changes to include - (n)ew, (c)hanged, (d)eleted

     h          use hashes to compare files (slower but reliable)

     s          start synchronization without a confirmation prompt 

 Examples:

  s3browser-con.exe sync my-account d:\photos s3:my-bucket/photos ncdh

  s3browser-con.exe sync my-account s3:my-bucket/projects c:\projects nchs

  s3browser-con.exe sync my-account "e:\my videos" "s3:my-bucket/my videos" nds

  s3browser-con.exe sync encrypted-account:85sd4df s3:my-bucket/Docs F:\Docs nds

If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks. Do not use traling backslash.

Update Credentials

s3browser-con.exe update-credentials - Updates account credentials from AWS config/credentials file.

This command could be useful when temporary credentials are not supported by your current account type, for example GovCloud account.

Running this command you can copy access keys and session token from the AWS config or credentials file to the account you added earlier in S3 Browser.
 Usage:
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 update-credentials credentials-file profile-name account[:password]
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Where:

  credentials-file - path to AWS config or credential file

  profile-name - profile name in AWS config or credential file

  account - account name you assigned when adding an account using gui wizard

  password - optional password to decrypt account credentials (master password)

 Examples:

  update-credentials C:\Users\Joe\.aws\credentials general MyS3Account

  update-credentials C:\Users\Joe\.aws\config joe "My S3 Account"

  update-credentials %USERPROFILE%\.aws\config default my-encrypted-account:DCVFxD7F#Dh$kd8=
  
	
If spaces appear in the path, enclose it in quotation marks. Do not use traling backslash.

Schedule command line task via Windows Task Scheduler

1. Press Win+R, the Run dialog will open

The Run Dialog

Type taskschd.msc and press Enter

Task Scheduler dialog will open

Task Scheduler Dialog

Click Action, Create Task..

Create Task dialog will open:

Create Task Dialog

Specify task name and other optional parameters.

Important: S3 Browser keeps all settings in user profile, you need to run the task under the same Windows User account that was used to configure S3 Browser.

Open the Triggers tab and define at least one trigger

Scheduled Task Triggers

Open the Actions tab:

Scheduled Task Actions

Add the following action:

Action: Start a program

Program/script: "C:\Program Files\S3 Browser\s3browser-con.exe"

Add arguments (optional): sync my-account d:\photos s3:my-bucket/photos ncdhs

Start in (optional): leave this field empty

Click OK to create Scheduled Task

Where can i find the logs?

Press Win+R and type the following path:

%APPDATA%\S3Browser\logs

Press Enter

S3 Browser logs directory will open, command line tool logs should start with the s3browser-con- prefix.

Command Line Tool logs