Using variables in SFTP
 

ok I'm new to linux scripting but not new to programming.

Gotten most of this from google searches:
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#!/bin/bash

#argument, MMYYYY of previous month

#some stuff, $1 variable works fine here

sftp [location] << 'ENDSFTP'

cd [location]
get *$1*.txt
ENDSFTP
#other stuff down here
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If I want to use the input variables like $1 it works fine outside the sftp block, but inside when I try to do this it is not replacing $1 with the script argument variable. Basically someone else puts this text file on their server and as part of my script I want to be able to do this with an argument and not have to change the code every month. I have similar code to do this that is daily. One approach I've done is just getting *.txt and then deleting all the other ones using the variable outside the sftp block but there's got to be an easier way right?

Thanks.

my opinion is that sftp prompts human users for keyboard input. whereas scp is designed for machine automation.

i think generically the problem is that the heredoc invokes a subshell in which $1 is not within its scope.

This makes sense. Do you know of any way I can get around it? With multiple commands I need to run while connected, can I use scp and if I could wouldn't I run into the same issue?