A.6.9 How do I use PSCP to copy a file whose name has spaces in?

If PSCP is using the newer SFTP protocol (which is usual with most modern servers), this is straightforward; all filenames with spaces in are specified using a single pair of quotes in the obvious way:

pscp "local file" user@host:
pscp user@host:"remote file" .

However, if PSCP is using the older SCP protocol for some reason, things are more confusing. If you're specifying a file at the local end, you just use one set of quotes as you would normally do:

pscp "local filename with spaces" user@host:
pscp user@host:myfile "local filename with spaces"

But if the filename you're specifying is on the remote side, you have to use backslashes and two sets of quotes:

pscp user@host:"\"remote filename with spaces\"" local_filename
pscp local_filename user@host:"\"remote filename with spaces\""

Worse still, in a remote-to-local copy you have to specify the local file name explicitly, otherwise PSCP will complain that they don't match (unless you specified the -unsafe option). The following command will give an error message:

c:\>pscp user@host:"\"oo er\"" .
warning: remote host tried to write to a file called 'oo er'
         when we requested a file called '"oo er"'.

Instead, you need to specify the local file name in full:

c:\>pscp user@host:"\"oo er\"" "oo er"