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I am using putty via the command line to get (using mget) all of the txt files on a remote server. I would like to only get the files for a specific date range or files that have not been previously downloaded.

Edit: should have been more specific. I need to do this over an sftp connection

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Really sounds like you'll want to look at rsync. See Backing up Windows machines using rsync and ssh by Manu Garg.

Economical backup solution: rsync and ssh

As all other unix tricks this is also the result of laziness and the need. I wanted to backup data on my windows laptop to a central linux/unix server. I didn't want all the features of available expensive backup solutions. Just a simple updated copy of my data on a central machine which is backed up to the tape daily. rsync is known for fast incremental transfer and was an obvious choice for the purpose.

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This won't work for me because I don't have access to the server to install the rsycn daemon as the tutorial shows. Any other suggestions? –  Jeremy May 13 '09 at 18:04
You'll need to script some form of retrieving remote file times, maybe parsing the output of the dir command. –  gimel May 14 '09 at 8:52
rsync works over ssh just fine, you don't need to have the rsync daemon running. –  amarillion May 14 '09 at 9:20
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Sounds like you are trying to synchronize data? If that is the case, perhaps try rsync?

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