Edit .bashrc vs .bash_profile

TODO: collapasable, copyable, download, etc

When should I edit .bashrc versus .bash_profile?.bashrc and .bash_profile are configuration files used by the Bash shell to set environment variables, aliases, and other shell settings. The primary difference between the two lies in when they are loaded.

1. .bashrc: This file is executed whenever a new non-login, interactive shell is started. This typically includes terminal sessions that you open within a graphical environment, such as opening a terminal emulator like GNOME Terminal or iTerm2. You should edit .bashrc when you want to add settings that are applicable to interactive shells, such as aliases, functions, and shell options.

2. .bash_profile (or .profile or .bash_login): This file is executed whenever a new login shell is started, such as when you first log in to your computer or connect to a remote machine via SSH. You should edit .bash_profile when you want to add settings that are applicable to login shells, such as environment variables that should be available system-wide.

In practice, you might find it useful to have some settings available in both interactive and login shells. To achieve this, you can source your .bashrc file from within your .bash_profile file. To do this, add the following lines to your .bash_profile:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
  source ~/.bashrc
fi

This will ensure that the contents of .bashrc are also loaded for login shells, allowing you to maintain a single configuration for both types of shells.

Edit .bashrc vs .bash_profile created at Tue Jan 20 1970 11:13:25 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)