How to login and then run command in linux ftp client? - bash

Question

I want to be able to connect to a ftp server automatically using a single file. This input file contains commands to run in ftp session.
I am able to connect and login to a ftp server via terminal using:
ftp <IP>
Connected to <IP>.
220 ProFTPD Server (ProFTPD) [<IP>]
Name (<IP>:current_user): USER
331 Password required for USER
Password:
I enter password, the output is:
230 User USER logged in
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> ls
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for file list
drwxr-xr-x 4 USER psacln 4096 Aug 11 2020 backups
drwxr-xr-x 2 USER psacln 4096 Mar 2 2019 error_docs
drwxr-xr-x 53 USER psacln 4096 Jul 10 03:18 httpdocs
drwx------ 2 USER root 4096 Aug 4 06:32 logs
drwxrwxr-x 12 USER psacln 4096 Aug 10 2020 moodledata
226 Transfer complete
ftp>
Suppose a single file named cmd includes the command "ls" and also username & password:
#!/bin/bash
HOST=<IP>
USER=USER
PASSWORD=<PASS>
ftp $HOST <<EOF
user $USER $PASSWORD
Using above file as input to:
ftp <ip> < cmd
How to use this file to auto connect to this ftp server?

Answer 1

I've just solved it.
I just use encoded password in the bach script:
#!/bin/bash
HOST=<ip>
USER=USER
PASSWORD=$(echo <encoded password> | base64 --decode)
ftp -inv $HOST <<EOF
user $USER $PASSWORD
ls
bye
EOF
My password contains char &ampersand&, so it has error in connecting to ftp server.
Note that <encoded password> is obtained by:
echo '<PASS>' | base64
Just this!