You can list the contents of a directory on the remote host. The command ls prints a short version; the command dir a longer version. You will need to give the path to the directory if it is not in your home directory on the remote host. For example:
ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (129.215.128.23,12707) (0 bytes). public reports 226 ASCII Transfer complete. 17 bytes received in 0.26 seconds (0.064 Kbytes/s) ftp> ftp> dir reports/quarterly 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (129.215.128.23,12708) (0 bytes). total 10 -rw-rw-rw- 1 eucs99 ug 9383 Jul 18 15:59 march 226 ASCII Transfer complete. 71 bytes received in 0.26 seconds (0.27 Kbytes/s) ftp>