SAMS Teach Yourself Unix in 10 Minutes

Using Dot Files

When a new Unix system user account is created, certain default settings maintained in default configuration files (called dot files) are placed in the user's home directory (~). Dot files are files with names starting with the . character. Depending on the Unix shell in use, different files are more active than others. For the most part, these files should be left alone unless you know what you are doing. However, there will be times when you will need to alter them although frequent changes to these files are not needed.

In working with dot files, you may accidentally corrupt them or make them invalid with an incorrect entry. Invalid or corrupted dot files can prevent you from logging in or otherwise affect your account. It ...