[PLUG] reloading? a config file
Michael D. Harris
michael.harrisdmd at comcast.net
Fri Apr 29 04:12:59 UTC 2005
That was great help, thank you,
Mike
On Thu, 2005-04-28 at 21:04 -0700, Richard C. Steffens wrote:
> On Thursday 28 April 2005 8:31 pm, Michael D. Harris wrote:
> > Is there a common way to re-initiate a file that you have added or
> > edited. My real time example is the .bashrc file in my home directory
> > that I added an alias or two to. What or where do I find instructions
> > on how to get the system to know that I edited it, or say, any other
> > file like that?
>
> I discovered this one just the other day. In the tutorial for installing the
> CAD program I'm trying, the writer described making changes to .bashrc. He
> instructed me to run:
>
> source bashrc
>
> after saving the changes.
>
> I tried looking it up in "A Practical Guide to Linux" by Mark G. Sobell, the
> text used when I took a Linux class a few years ago at Clackamas Community
> College. The index for "source" sent me to . (dot) source, which sent me to .
> (dot). Until I finally found out that there is a command called dot (.), I
> was a bit confused. Here's some of what the book has to say:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Running .bash_profile with the . (Dot) Command
>
> After you edit your .bash_profile file to change the values of keyword shell
> variables, you do not have to wait until the next time you log in to put the
> changes into effect. You can run .bash_profile with the . (dot) builtin. As
> with all other commands, the . must be followed by a SPACE on the command
> line. Using the . builtin is similar to running a shell script, except that
> the . command runs the script as part of the current process. Consequently,
> when you use . to run a script from your login shell, changes you make to the
> variable from within the script affect the login shell. You can use the .
> command to run any shell script, not just .bash_profile, but there may be
> undesirable side effects (such as having the value of shell variables you
> rely on changed). If you ran .bash_profile as a regular shell script and did
> not use the . builtin, the new variables would be in effect only in the
> subshell running the script.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I assume that there will be more experienced responses that will explain the
> difference between .bash_profile, .bashrc, and .profile, but I think the
> process is still valid. I put some environment variable assignments
> in .bashrc and ran source .bashrc. The assignments were made, and I could see
> the results with echo $VARIABLE.
>
--
Michael D. Harris D.M.D. <michael.harrisdmd at comcast.net>
Linux Enthusiast
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