Transfer files over netcat using Applescript • Pandurang Waghulde

At my workplace, one of my colleagues and I used to transfer files like database dumps from one machine to another for our projects.

I came across netcat (the nc command), and when we tried it, it just worked. I was surprised by how fast the files got transferred. :)

So I wrote an AppleScript that transfers files using netcat, with dialog boxes.

tell application "SystemUIServer"
  set actionSelected to the button returned of (display dialog "What do you want to do?" buttons {"Send file", "Receive file"} default button 2)

  if actionSelected = "Send file" then
    set filepath to POSIX path of (choose file)
    display dialog "Please enter the IP address of the receiver:" default answer ""
    set ipAddress to text returned of result
    if ipAddress = "" then
      repeat
        display dialog "IP address can't be blank. Please enter the IP address of the receiver:" default answer ""
        set ipAddress to text returned of result
        if ipAddress is not equal to "" then exit repeat
      end repeat
    end if
  else
    display dialog "Please enter a file name with extension:" default answer ""
    set filename to text returned of result
    if filename = "" then
      repeat
        display dialog "File name can't be blank. Please enter a file name with extension:" default answer ""
        set filename to text returned of result
        if filename is not equal to "" then exit repeat
      end repeat
    end if
  end if

  display dialog "Please enter a port number (must be an integer):" default answer ""
  set portnumber to text returned of result

  if portnumber = "" then
    repeat
      display dialog "Port number can't be blank. Please enter a port number (must be an integer):" default answer ""
      set portnumber to text returned of result
      if portnumber is not equal to "" then exit repeat
    end repeat
  end if

  if actionSelected = "Send file" then
    display dialog "Sending"
    do shell script "nc " & quoted form of ipAddress & " " & quoted form of portnumber & " < " & quoted form of filepath
    "sending"
  else
    display dialog "Receiving"
    do shell script "nc -l " & quoted form of portnumber & " > " & quoted form of filename
    "receiving"
  end if

end tell

After saving this file (netcat.scpt) on your machine, just run this in your terminal:

osascript your_path/netcat.scpt

It makes transferring files simpler than remembering the syntax for netcat. Or, if you want an even shorter way, add an alias to your .bash_profile:

alias netcat='osascript your_path/netcat.scpt'

Then just type netcat in the terminal. Enjoy :)