Using the official Dropbox command line interface (CLI)

This article assumes you have already installed Dropbox as per the instructions here

Installation

Download the Dropbox command line interface or get it via the command line:

First make a  bin  directory, or a directory of your choosing. The examples below all assume you made a  bin   directory:

mkdir -p ~/bin

Download the CLI interface via  wget:  

wget -O ~/bin/dropbox.py "http://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/dropbox.py"

Set the permissions so you can execute the CLI interface:

chmod +x ~/bin/dropbox.py

Getting Started

Start off by printing the help menu:

~/bin/dropbox.py help

which will show you all the commands you can use

status       get current status of the dropboxd
 help         provide help
 puburl       get public url of a file in your dropbox
 stop         stop dropboxd
 running      return whether dropbox is running
 start        start dropboxd
 filestatus   get current sync status of one or more files
 ls           list directory contents with current sync status
 autostart    automatically start dropbox at login
 exclude      ignores/excludes a directory from syncing

As the help menu shows, to start Dropbox, simply type

~/bin/dropbox.py start

If successful, it should show

Starting Dropbox...Done!

Then check its status with

~/bin/dropbox.py status

Commands

STATUS

Description

 get current status of the dropboxd 

Usage

 Basic usage dropbox.py status

Example ~/bin/dropbox.py status

Combined with "watch" command watch '~/bin/dropbox.py status'

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py status
Indexing 317 files... 

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py status
Idle

HELP

Description

 provide help 

Usage

  Basic usage      dropbox.py help

 Example           ~/bin/dropbox.py help

 Command help usage dropbox.py help COMMAND

Example      ~/bin/dropbox.py help exclude

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py help
Dropbox command-line interface
commands:

Note: use dropbox help <command> to view usage for a specific command.

 status       get current status of the dropboxd
 help         provide help
 puburl       get public url of a file in your dropbox
 stop         stop dropboxd
 running      return whether dropbox is running
 start        start dropboxd
 filestatus   get current sync status of one or more files
 ls           list directory contents with current sync status
 autostart    automatically start dropbox at login
 exclude      ignores/excludes a directory from syncing

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py help puburl
dropbox puburl FILE
Prints out a public url for FILE.

PUBURL

Description

 get public url of a file in your dropbox 

Usage

 Basic usage     dropbox.py puburl FILE

 Example           ~/bin/dropbox.py puburl ~/Dropbox/Public/file.zip

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py puburl ~/Dropbox/Public/file.zip
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/XXXXXXX/file.zip

If not used on a file in your Public folder, you will get an error message:

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py puburl ~/Dropbox/myFolder/file.zip 
Couldn't get public url: Unknown Error

STOP

Description

 stop dropboxd 

Usage

  Basic usage     dropbox.py stop

 Example            ~/bin/dropbox.py stop

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py stop
Dropbox daemon stopped.

RUNNING

Description

 return whether dropbox is running 

Used in scripts to check if Dropbox is running. This command does not output anything to the user.

Extra Info

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py help running
dropbox running
Returns 1 if running 0 if not running.

Usage

  Basic usage    dropbox.py running

  Example         ~/bin/dropbox.py running

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py running
<no output>

EXCLUDE

Description

 ignores/excludes a directory from syncing 

Used in scripts to check if Dropbox is running. This command does not output anything to the user.

Extra Info

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py help exclude
dropbox exclude [list]
dropbox exclude add [DIRECTORY] [DIRECTORY] ...
dropbox exclude remove [DIRECTORY] [DIRECTORY] ...
"list" prints a list of directories currently excluded from syncing.  
"add" adds one or more directories to the exclusion list, then resynchronizes Dropbox. 
"remove" removes one or more directories from the exclusion list, then resynchronizes Dropbox.
With no arguments, executes "list". 
Any specified path must be within Dropbox.

Usage

  List usage:    dropbox.py exclude list

Example         ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude

Example         ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude list

 Add exclusion usage  dropbox.py exclude add DIRECTORY

Example         ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude add ~/Dropbox/MyExcludedFolder

Remove exclusion usage   dropbox.py exclude remove DIRECTORY

Example        ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude remove ~/Dropbox/MyReincludedFolder

Sample output

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude list
Excluded: 
Dropbox/backup
Dropbox/documents
Dropbox/music
Dropbox/papers
Dropbox/photos
Dropbox/pictures

$ ~/bin/dropbox.py exclude add ~/Dropbox/MyExclude1 ~/Dropbox/MyExclude2 ~/Dropbox/MyExclude3
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