Filezilla will not descend into directories with name ending in space.

[Jeffrey Cranmer]

I have to access a BBS with some folder names that have spaces in the filenames. Filezilla used to be able to access all folders, but now, if I try to access a folder with spaces in the file names, I get the following error.

Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD /All_files
Response: 250 CWD command successful.
Command: CWD ABC Engineering
Response: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
Error: Failed to retrieve directory listing

It will sucessfully descend into folders with no white spaces in filenames.

[Tim Kosse]

Looks to me like a broken server.

Can you please try the following: Enter these two raw FTP commands (In the menu, under Server -> Enter custom command...) after trying and failing to access the above directory:

CWD "ABC Engineering"
PWD

[Mirco]

Have the same problem here - but only in case of a space at the end of the directory name.
Directory name looks like this: 'fuer Poco Domaene-Logo ' - there is a space after 'Logo'

Tried this under MacOS X and Windows with same result:

Befehl: CWD fuer Poco Domaene-Logo
Antwort: 550 fuer Poco Domaene-Logo: No such file or directory.
Fehler: Verzeichnisinhalt konnte nicht empfangen werden

Seems, FileZilla is looking for 'fuer Poco Domaene-Logo' instead of 'fuer Poco Domaene-Logo '

Trying "Custom Command" with

CWD fuer Poco Domaene-Logo

(with space after "Logo") works. I get a:

Befehl: CWD fuer Poco Domaene-Logo
Antwort: 250 CWD command successful.
Befehl: PWD
Antwort: 257 "/D01-0-b pdf Daten/Print/Adresseindrucke D01-0-b/fuer Poco Domaene-Logo " is current directory.

[Tim Kosse]

You need to update to a server capable of the MLSD command to work with files and directories containing leading and/or trailing spaces. In older servers not capable of MLSD, these spaces are indistinguishable from padding whitespace.

Closing since original reporter is unresponsive.

[Jeffrey Cranmer]

Not quite sure why, but the 'more information' request never reached my E-mail, so the first ticket notification I received was from emale999 followed by codequid closing the ticket.

To provide the extra information requested:

Command: CWD ABC Engineering
Response: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
Error: Failed to retrieve directory listing
Command: CWD "ABC Engineering"
Response: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/All_files" is current directory.

I have forwarded the MLSD capable server comments to our FTP site administrator.

[Tim Kosse]

It appears to me like your server does not support spaces in directories at all. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do other than to suggest updating to a better server

[Jeffrey Cranmer]

When I look at this site using windows explorer, the filename appears as "ABC_Engineering" with an underscore.

When I try a couple of raw ftp commands, I get a good response.

Command: CWD ABC_Engineering
Response: 250 CWD command successful.
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/All_files/ABC_Engineering" is current directory.

Unfortunately, this does not cause the folder window display to change, so I still can't see the directory contents.

In the file window, however, the _ is displayed as a space, and clicking on the folder will cause the following commands to be issed and the associated error responses.

Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: CWD /All_files
Response: 250 CWD command successful.
Command: CWD ABC Engineering
Response: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
Error: Failed to retrieve directory listing

It looks like Filezilla is not correctly parsing underscores. This specific FTP site worked with an earlier version of Filezilla (though I'm not sure what version), so something that was changed in the software recently broke it.

This does not look like a server problem. Are you sure there is not a bug in the software?

Is there a way that I can access earlier versions of filezilla and downgrade until this problem is fixed?

Jeff

[Mirco]

Because other FTP-programs can open the directory and a manual CWD with all necessary spaces works it doesn't really seem that it's the problem of the FTP server. At the other hand it's the server of an customer and I can't really tell him to install another server...

[Tim Kosse]

FileZilla doesn't change the file and directory names returned by the server. If the server returns them without underscore but with a space instead, then the server should also accept them with a space for the CWD argument. There's nothing I can do.

Please upgrade to a proper server or refrain from using files/directories containing spaces.

[Jeffrey Cranmer]

I've solved the problem by changing to winSCP.
It does not have the bug that filezilla does, and it can correctly read underscores in file names for all directories.

You may wish to fix this bug, as it is a bug, despite your ostrich-like protestations to the contrary. I, however, no longer give a rats-ass, as I have switched to winSCP.

Jeff

[Tim Kosse]

FileZilla does not convert between spaces and underscores. It just doesn't. As such this isn't a bug in FileZilla.

[francois grieu]

I confirm that the bug is real and reproducible (FileZilla 3.3.3 on Win32 XP SP3 latest everything), with a critical twist: directory name must end in space.

If the directory structure on an FTP server includes a directory with name ending in space, one can't normally navigate into that directory, nor rename or delete it. The trailing space(s) are zapped from the commands issued by Filezilla (following navigation, delete or rename attempts). Creation of such directories works (perhaps unfortunately).

One can use "Enter custom command" to workaround or fix the issue, e.g.
"RNFR test "
"RNTO test"

The server on which I observe the issue positively includes trailing spaces in directly listings; the spaces are perceptible as an extended selection rectangle in FileZilla's GUI.

[francois grieu]

This is a duplicate for Ticket #5024, which includes: "Without the support of MLSD, whitespace as part of the filename is indistinguishable from padding. As such this cannot possibly be fixed."

The FTP server where I observe the issue indeed does not support MLSD, and FileZilla rightly use LIST. However three other FTP clients (Firefox, Internet Explorer, WinSCP) do not exhibit the issue.

Contrary to my earlier statement, the trailing spaces are NOT perceptible as an extended selection in FileZilla's GUI. Thus the explanation likely is that trailing spaces are removed as part of parsing the output of the LIST command (which FileZilla uses). The output of LIST goes (there are n spaces after testn):

drwx------   6 web site      160 Jun 16 07:31 .
drwx------  12 web site     2888 Jun 16 07:10 ..
drwx------   2 web site       48 Jun 16 07:29 test0
drwx------   2 web site       48 Jun 16 07:30 test1 
drwx------   2 web site       48 Jun 16 07:31 test2  

The heuristic of not removing any space followed only by spaces or EOL would work in this case; I can't exclude that it could break elsewhere.

[Tim Kosse]

I say this one final time: Trailing whitespace cannot possibly be distinguished from padding if using LIST. Just upgrade to a server that supports MLSD.