I just wrote

  echo "open $mainframe\

  \nuser $mf_username $mf_password

  \nsite lr=160\

  \ncd ..\

  \nmput \*\

  \nquit" | ftp -i -n -v > $ftp_log 2>&1

The program collected data from the telephone company's Nortel MD110 switches, tidied it up and sent it to their mainframes.