Java SFTP (apache vfs2) - password with @

Question

I'm trying to use the org.apache.commons.vfs2 to download a file via SFTP. The problem is, the password contains the '@' char, so this causes the URI to be parsed incorrectly:

org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileSystemException: Expecting / to follow the hostname in URI

Does anyone has an idea how to get around this issue? (I can't change the password, obviously). This is the code I'm using:

String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userName + ":" + password + "@"
        + remoteServerAddress + "/" + remoteDirectory + fileName;

String filepath = localDirectory + fileName;
File file = new File(filepath);
FileObject localFile = manager.resolveFile(file.getAbsolutePath());

FileObject remoteFile = manager.resolveFile(sftpUri, opts);
localFile.copyFrom(remoteFile, Selectors.SELECT_SELF);

Have another look at your `sftpUri`. What happens to the `remoteServerAddress` parameter if you password contains an @? — Hannes, Oct 19 '14 at 13:37
As I said, I know what the problem is (the URI is parsed incorectly because of the @ in the password). My question was how to solve it. — Ayelet, Oct 19 '14 at 13:39
Sry. I didn't see. Have a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6718471/escaping-username-characters-in-basic-auth-urls — Hannes, Oct 19 '14 at 13:42
This might be a silly question, but how do encode the password? — Ayelet, Oct 19 '14 at 14:06
You can use `URLEncoder.encode(...)` from `java.net`. Do only encode username and password. — Hannes, Oct 19 '14 at 15:03

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 19 '14 at 14:56

6

Use an actual URI constructor instead of hand-rolling your own:

String userInfo = userName + ":" + password;
String path = remoteDirectory + filename;  // Need a '/' between them?
URI sftpUri = new URI("sftp", userInfo, remoteServerAddress, -1, path, null, null);
...
FileObject remoteFile = manager.resolveFile(sftpUri.toString(), opts);

answered Oct 19 '14 at 14:56

Kenster

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and make sure path starts with a / and does not use windows \ characters. Or you convert it from a file like this: `new File("c:\\temp").toURI().getPath()` – eckes Jan 05 '15 at 17:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 19 '22 at 06:56

You need to encode the your password by UriParser.encode(), you can change your code like below:

you code:

String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userName + ":" + password + "@"
        + remoteServerAddress + "/" + remoteDirectory + fileName;

change to:

String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userName + ":" + **UriParser.encode(password, "@".toCharArray())**+ "@"
        + remoteServerAddress + "/" + remoteDirectory + fileName;

Hope it help, thank you.

Java SFTP (apache vfs2) - password with @

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