DOT(P) POSIX Programmer's Manual DOT(P)NAMEdot - execute commands in the current environment
SYNOPSIS
. file
DESCRIPTION
The shell shall execute commands from the file in the current environ‐
ment.
If file does not contain a slash, the shell shall use the search path
specified by PATH to find the directory containing file. Unlike normal
command search, however, the file searched for by the dot utility need
not be executable. If no readable file is found, a non-interactive
shell shall abort; an interactive shell shall write a diagnostic mes‐
sage to standard error, but this condition shall not be considered a
syntax error.
OPTIONS
None.
OPERANDS
See the DESCRIPTION.
STDIN
Not used.
INPUT FILES
See the DESCRIPTION.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See the DESCRIPTION.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
Default.
STDOUT
Not used.
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
None.
EXIT STATUS
Returns the value of the last command executed, or a zero exit status
if no command is executed.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
Default.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
EXAMPLES
cat foobar
foo=hello bar=world. foobar
echo $foo $bar
hello world
RATIONALE
Some older implementations searched the current directory for the file,
even if the value of PATH disallowed it. This behavior was omitted
from this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 due to concerns about intro‐
ducing the susceptibility to trojan horses that the user might be try‐
ing to avoid by leaving dot out of PATH .
The KornShell version of dot takes optional arguments that are set to
the positional parameters. This is a valid extension that allows a dot
script to behave identically to a function.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
Special Built-In Utilities
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2003 DOT(P)
