status code from ftp

[Rolf Wilson]

I have a routine to transfer a file to another machine
by ftp. That part works fine. I want to delete the
file that I sent if the transfer worked. That part 
does not.

#!/bin/sh
ftp -n othermachine <<!
user me
put myfile
quit
!
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
  rm myfile
fi

The $? return code is always 0, even if the other machine
is never found. Does ftp not return a non-zero code on
failure? Is this not "the last command executed". What
horribly simple thing do I not understand?
  Replies by e-mail, please.

  Thank you very much.

--

Rolf Wilson   Illinois State Geological Survey   rolf at sparc1.isgs.uiuc.edu