profile(M)
profile --
set up an environment at login time
Description
The optional file, .profile,
permits automatic execution of commands whenever a
user logs in. The file is generally used to personalize
a user's work environment by setting exported
environment variables and terminal mode (see
environ(M)).
When a user logs in, the user's login shell looks for
.profile
in the login directory. If found, the shell
executes the commands in the file
before beginning the session. The commands in the file
must have the same format as if they were entered at the
keyboard. Any line beginning with the number sign
(#) is considered a comment and is ignored.
The following is an example of a typical file:
# Tell me when new mail comes in
MAIL=/usr/mail/myname
# Add my /bin directory to the shell search sequence
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
# Make some environment variables global
export MAIL PATH TERM
# Set file creation mask
umask 22
Limitations
Note that the file /etc/profile
is a system-wide profile that, if it exists, is executed for
every user before the user's .profile is executed.
Files
$HOME/.profile
/etc/profile
See also
env(C),
login(M),
mail(C),
sh(C),
stty(C),
su(C),
environ(M)
© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003