Windows下用Python ftplib访问FTP目录遇socket.gaierror错误求助

Let's break down what's going wrong here and fix it step by step:

The Root Cause #

That socket.gaierror: [Errno 11001] getaddrinfo failed error is happening because you're passing a full path combined with the server address to the FTP constructor. The FTP() class expects only the server's hostname (like ftp5.xyz.eu) as its first argument—not a combined string like ftp5.xyz.eu/foo%20bar. When you do that, Python tries to resolve ftp5.xyz.eu/foo%20bar as a DNS hostname, which doesn't exist, hence the lookup failure.

The Correct Approach #

You need to separate connecting to the server from navigating to your target directory. Here's how to do it right:

1. Connect to the FTP server first—only use the hostname here.
2. Authenticate (if required; skip this for anonymous FTP).
3. Navigate to your target directory using the cwd() method (short for "change working directory"). You don't need to URL-encode spaces—just pass the path as a normal string with spaces.
4. Run your dir() command once you're in the right directory.

Working Example Code #

from ftplib import FTP

# Step 1: Connect to the server (only the hostname here!)
ftp = FTP("ftp5.xyz.eu")

# Step 2: Log in (use your credentials if needed; anonymous login uses ftp.login())
ftp.login("your_username", "your_password")

# Step 3: Navigate to the target directory. You can do this in one go or split it:
# Option 1: Single cwd call for the full path
ftp.cwd("foo bar/baz")

# Option 2: Split into two steps (useful if you want to verify each step)
# ftp.cwd("foo bar")
# ftp.cwd("baz")

# Step 4: Now you can successfully list the directory contents
ftp.dir()

# Don't forget to close the connection when you're done
ftp.quit()

Quick Notes #

• If you run into issues with the space in "foo bar", double-check that the directory name on the server exactly matches (most FTP servers are case-sensitive).
• For anonymous FTP, just call ftp.login() without any arguments.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Voicu Mirel