title: How to copy files from google compute engine to local directory
body: <p>I am trying to copy files from my instance to my local directory using following command</p>
  <pre><code>gcloud compute scp &lt;instance-name&gt;:~/&lt;file-name&gt; ~/Documents/
  </code></pre>
  <p>However, it is showing error as mentioned below</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>$USER/Documents/: Is a directory</p>
  <p>ERROR: (gcloud.compute.scp) [/usr/bin/scp] exited with return code [1].</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Copying from local directory to GCE works fine.</p>
  <p>I have checked Stanford's tutorial and Google's documentation as well.</p>
  <p>I have one another instance where there is no issue like this.</p>
  <p>I somewhat believe it might be issue with SSH keys.</p>
  <p>What might have gone wrong?</p>