PROFILE(M) XENIX System V PROFILE(M)
Name
profile - Sets 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(C)).
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
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)
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