ftp experts?

Is there a way to get file listings or execute other ftp commands when doing ftp -a ftp://hostname.domain.name/directory ? I don't understand ftp macros. Can these be executed by a script going to an anonymous site. For an example of what I'm looking for, I want a script that periodically looks for a changed file and grabs it if its there, or returns false if not. Any ideas? Examples??? TIA, Steven -- Open Source Software depends on your support. If you use it, be sure to give something back. http://www.suse.com | http://www.kde.org http://www.mozilla.org | http://www.xemacs.org