Expect script for Aspera uploads for use when the server chokes on wildcards

autopass.sh

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
#Upload a file to an Aspera server, filling in the passphrase field
#Usage: ./autopass.sh mybigassfile
set arg1 [lindex $argv 0]
set timeout -1
spawn ascp -i sra-rsakey-putty.ppk -k 1 -Qr -l300M $arg1 user@asperadomain.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:protected/
expect "Passphrase for key \"rsa-key-blahblah\":"
send "mypassword\r"
expect "Completed"
#add the file you successfully uploaded to a log
set filelog [open uploadedfiles.txt a]
puts $filelog $arg1

This is best paired with a "screen" session, so as to prevent a local disconnection from killing the job (like nohup but more easily revisited):

screen -dR dbgap
for f in sra/files/*; do ./autopass.sh $f; done

ctrl-a then d to leave the screen and go about your business

screen -dR dbgap to revisit