Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!jarthur!melkins
From: melkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Michael Elkins)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: RE:  UNIX "dot" files
Message-ID: <2609@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: 25 Oct 89 00:24:36 GMT
Reply-To: melkins@jarthur.UUCP (Michael Elkins)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
Lines: 30


In article <554@ncelvax.UUCP> cathy@ncelvax writes:
>       ...Can anyone tell me why the
>	"dot" files- .cshrc, .login, .profile, etc., need to
>	have a "dot" as their first character? 

I'm not to sure what the reason is, but that is part of their `fixed' name 
(i.e. the system will only recognize it that way...).  I don't think that
the system would run it if it was only named login or cshrc.

>       What does that do within the UNIX system?

The `dot' tells the UNIX command  ls  not to list it with your other files.
This is nice because you normally don't want to muddle through the extra
files when trying to find the one you want, especially if you have a large
directory.  They WILL be listed if you attach the flag  -a  to ls  (e.g. ls -a)

>       Also, are there a limited
>	number of "dot" files, or can any file be assigned a
>	dot as its first character...

The only limit to the number of files is how much memory your account is 
allocated.

-me
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