download_from_ena.py

import ftplib

# ftp://ftp.sra.ebi.ac.uk/vol1/fastq/ERR038/ERR038787/ERR038787_1.fastq.gz
todo_list = ['ERR024633'] # ERR accessions
target_dir = '/where/you/want/the/data'

def download_from_ena(todo_list, target_dir):
	ftp = ftplib.FTP('ftp.sra.ebi.ac.uk')
	ftp.login()
	ftp.cwd('vol1')
	ftp.cwd('fastq')
	for each in todo_list:
		initial = each[0:6]
		ftp.cwd(initial)
		ftp.cwd(each)
		with open('%s/%s_1.fastq.gz' % (target_dir, each), 'wb') as f1:
			with open('%s/%s_2.fastq.gz' % (target_dir, each), 'wb') as f2:
				ftp.retrbinary('RETR %s_1.fastq.gz' % each, f1.write)
				ftp.retrbinary('RETR %s_2.fastq.gz' % each, f2.write)



download_from_ena(todo_list, target_dir)