As in the Solaris environment, shell initialization files are used to set search paths and other environment variables and to execute some useful commands and functions. The following table shows which startup files are read by default when each type of shell is launched.
Table 3-3 Startup Files Read at Shell InitializationShell | Startup File |
---|---|
C shell |
$HOME/.cshrc $HOME/.login |
Bourne shell | $HOME/.profile |
Korn shell |
$HOME/.profile file specified with ENV variable |
Profile shells (see pfexec(1) man page) |
$HOME/.profile |
The .profile or .login files are invoked only if the shell is also identified as the account's login shell. A shell that is invoked with a prefix of - (for example: - csh) is a login shell. This means, for example, that when a C shell is started using csh (without a - prefix), the .login file is not executed.