Both the ~\/.bashrc and ~\/.bash_profile are scripts that might be executed when bash is invoked. The ~\/.bashrc file gets executed when you run bash using an interactive shell that is not a login shell. The ~\/.bash_profile only gets executed during a login shell. What does this all mean? <\/p>\n
The paragraphs below explains interactive shells, login shells, .bashrc, .bash_profile and other bash scripts that are executed during login.<\/p>\n
Login Shells <\/strong>(.bash_profile)<\/p>\n A login shell is a bash shell that is started with – or –login. The following are examples that will invoke a login shell.<\/p>\n sudo su – When BASH is invoked as a login shell, the following files are executed in the displayed order.<\/p>\n \/etc\/profile Although ~\/.bashrc is not listed here, most default ~\/.bash_profile scripts run ~\/.bashrc.<\/p>\n Purely Interactive Shells<\/strong> (.bashrc)<\/p>\n Interactive shells are those not invoked with -c and whose standard input and output are connected to a terminal. Interactive shells do not need to be login shells. Here are some examples that will evoke an interactive shell that is not a login shell.<\/p>\n sudo su In this case of an interactive but non-login shell, only ~\/.bashrc is executed. In most cases, the default ~\/.bashrc script executes the system’s \/etc\/bashrc.<\/p>\n Be warned that you should never echo output to the screen in a ~\/.bashrc file. Otherwise, commands like ‘ssh user@host \/path\/to\/command’ will echo output unrelated to the command called.<\/p>\n Non-interactive shells<\/strong><\/p>\n Non-interactive shells do not automatically execute any scripts like ~\/.bashrc or ~\/.bash_profile. Here are some examples of non-interactive shells.<\/p>\n su user -c \/path\/to\/command
\nbash –login
\nssh user@host<\/p>\n
\n~\/.bash_profile
\n~\/.bash_login
\n~\/.profile<\/p>\n
\nbash
\nssh user@host \/path\/to\/command<\/p>\n
\nbash -c \/path\/to\/command<\/p>\n