# WinSCP - Download files with specific extension recursively > Learn how to use WinSCP's scripting feature to download files with a specific extension (like .php) recursively from your FTP/SFTP server. Includes a simple script example. ---  **TL;DR** This article shares a WinSCP automation script that recursively downloads all files matching a given extension (e.g. `.php`) from a remote FTP/SFTP server to a local folder, run via `winscp.com /script=...` — handy for pulling down a specific file type from an entire site for local analysis. The [WinSCP](https://winscp.net/) FTP client supports scripting as we can read on . In a previous life, I was often faced with the need to download a certain type of file, e.g. connect to an FTP server and retrieve PHP files locally for analysis. *Downloading everything just to search inside it is sometimes overkill: [Search your FTP server at lightning speed](/blog/php-grep-searching-at-lightning-speed) does the search **on** the server. And once the files are local, [jakzal/phpqa](/blog/php-jakzal-phpqa) gives you every PHP analysis tool without installing a thing.* Since WinSCP allows automation, it's easy to write a little script to do just that. As an example, we'll thus download any `.php` files from a host. ## The script The script is pretty straightforward, if you can believe it: **C:\temp\download.txt** ```txt lcd "c:\temp" open ftp://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST_OR_IP/ cd /public_html option transfer ascii get -filemask:*.php * close exit ``` ## How to use 1. Save the previous script as, f.i., `C:\temp\download.txt` 2. Edit the script and make these changes: 1. Where files should be downloaded, local folder (line `lcd "c:\temp"`) 2. In case of need, replace `ftp` by `sftp` 3. `USERNAME`: the FTP username 4. `PASSWORD`: the password associated to this account 5. `HOST_OR_IP`: the FTP host name or its IP 6. The remote folder from where the files should be downloaded (line `cd /public_html`) 7. The file extension to download (if not `.php`) (line `get -filemask:*.php *`) 8. Save the script 3. Start a DOS session 4. Run `cd c:\temp` 5. Run `winscp.com` from there: type `"C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\WinSCP.com" /script="c:\temp\download.txt"` If everything is correctly set up, WinSCP will start a session terminal and will start to download each `.php` file found under your remote folder (sub-folders included).