In addition to HTTP, the <fetch> and <submit> functions can also access FTP and Gopher sites.

We can send the value of $data to the file destfile on an FTP site with this:

  <submit METHOD=put URL=ftp://ftp.mysite.com/incoming/destfile
     DATA=$data>

With the FROMFILE and TOFILE options, we can transfer data directly to and from a file. This saves the memory overhead of reading large files into memory first:

  <submit METHOD=put URL=ftp://ftp.mysite.com/incoming/destfile
     FROMFILE=/usr/local/bigfile>

A script could use this to transfer raw bulk data between machines on an automated basis.