Transferring Existing Files

By default, Reflection asks you what to do if the local or host file being transferred already exists at the file transfer destination. If you don't want to be prompted for each existing file, you can change the If file exists option in the Transfer dialog box. The options provided by this feature will change depending on which protocol you are using.

The If file exists options apply to both sending and receiving files when you are using the WRQ/Reflection or FTP protocol. For all other protocols, the options only apply when you are receiving files from the host and the label of the option changes to If local file exists. When you are transferring files to the host, what happens to duplicate files depends on the operating system or protocol rules of the host.

NOTE:When you are transferring mixed or uppercase file names, keep in mind that some hosts recognize case as a distinguishing feature. Same-name files, such as Myfile.doc and MYFILE.DOC, can exist side-by-side in a folder on the host simply because they are capitalized differently.

When configuring Reflection file transfer in the Transfer Settings dialog box, you can select from several options to change the default behavior. If you select an option that is not available for all protocols, and then transfer a file using a protocol that does not support the default option, Reflection reverts to the Ask User setting.

The options are:

Append	Add the source file contents to the end of the destination file.
Ask User	Open a dialog box when the file already exists. The dialog box options change depending on the type of host to which you are connected and the protocol you are using.
Cancel	A transfer to the host is canceled only if a file with the specified name (and version number for VMS hosts) already exists. For VMS hosts, however, if you specify an existing filename without a version number, a new file with the same name is created, but with a version number one greater than the highest version number of the existing file. This applies to transfers from a PC to a VMS host, not to transfers from a host to a PC. If you send a file or files with the same name as an existing file to an HP 3000 or UNIX system, the transfer is canceled. If the file is part of a wildcard set (files being transferred using wildcards or a string of file names), no other files are transferred after a duplicate is found. When transferring a file to the PC, the file transfer is canceled when a file with the specified name already exists. If the file is part of a wildcard set (files being transferred using wildcards or a string of filenames), no other files are transferred to the PC after a duplicate is found.
Delete	When transferring to the PC, the existing file on the PC is deleted and a new file is created. When sending to a UNIX host (this option only applies to sending files to a UNIX host with the WRQ/Reflection protocol), a host file matching the local filename is deleted and a new file is created.
Overwrite	For transfers to this host type	This option
	HP	Replaces the data in the destination file but does not replace the attributes (characteristics) of the file. This can be a problem when overwriting a smaller file with a larger one; new records are not allocated to accommodate additional data, which means that only part of the file data is transferred.
	VMS	Replaces the most recent instance of the destination file.
	UNIX	Preserves existing symbolic links to the host file.
Purge	This option is available when you're using the WRQ/Reflection protocol, and when you're connected to a VMS host or an HP 3000 host. (With an HP 3000 host, this option is equivalent to deleting a file). If you send a PC file to a VMS host using the Purge option, existing versions of the file on the host are purged following the transfer. For example, if you send Notes.txt to the host, and Notes.txt;2 and Notes.txt;3 already exist, a successful transfer results in a single file on the host called Notes.txt;4. When transferring to the PC, the existing file on the PC is deleted and a new file is created.
Rename	Automatically make a copy of the existing file (you are not prompted). If you're connected to an HP 3000, the newly created file is renamed by inserting or appending three zeros, and then incrementing the numerical characters until a unique filename is created. If 999 is reached and a unique filename is still not found, an error is returned. For example, with a file named filename:
	For MPE	For POSIX
	filenam0 filenam1 ... filenam9 filena10 filena11 ... filena99 filen100 ... filen999 <error>	filename000 filename001 ... filename009 filename010 filename011 ... filename099 filename100 ... filename999 <error>
	NOTE:For POSIX, the incremented numerical characters added to a filename will be inserted before any file extension, like this: filename000.txt.
Resume	Resume a cancelled transfer when Reflection encounters a file with the same name as that which you are transferring. This option is available only when you are using the Zmodem protocol, and works only when a previous attempt to receive the same file was interrupted and the Delete cancelled receives check box had been cleared.
Skip	Skip over the transfer of an existing file when one with the same name already exists (you are not prompted). If more files are to be transferred, they are processed after the skipped file. This option is only available when you're using the WRQ/Reflection or Zmodem protocol.
Update	(Applies only to the WRQ/Reflection protocol.) Update the existing file with the new one of the same name automatically (you are not prompted). If the file already exists on the host, the date and time stamp of the PC file is compared against the host's date and time stamp. If the host's date and time stamp precedes the PC's, the host file is purged and the PC file is transferred.
Use Remote	Use the disposition value specified by the remote system. If the remote system doesn't specify a disposition, the option defaults to Ask User. This option is only available when you're using the Zmodem protocol.