scp files with spaces in the filename

scp is a great tool. Built to run over ssh it maintains a good unix design. It does however cause a few problems with it's nonchalant handling of file names.

For example, transferring a file which has a space in the name causes problems because of the amount of escaping required to get the space to persist on the remote side of the connection.

Copying files from local to remote is easy enough, just quote or escape the file name using your shell.
scp Test\ File remote:
scp 'Test File' remote:
scp "Test File" remote:

Copying files from remote to local can be more tricky
scp remtote:Test\ File .
scp: Test: No such file or directory
scp: File: No such file or directory

scp stimulus:"Test File" .
scp: Test: No such file or directory
scp: File: No such file or directory

scp "stimulus:Test File" .
scp: Test: No such file or directory
scp: File: No such file or directory

The escaping is working on your local machine but the remote is still splitting the name at the space.

To solve that, we need an extra level of escape, one for the remote server. Remember that your shell will eat the \ so you need a double \\ to send it to the remote
scp remote:Test\\\ File .
Test File              100%    0     0.0KB/s   00:00

You can also combine the remote escape with local quoting
scp remote:"Test\ File" .
or
scp "remote:Test\ File" .

Best solution of all, avoid spaces in file names. If you can't avoid it, I find the easiest solution is to replace ' ' with '\\\ '.