Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!ginosko!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!xanth!mcnc!rti!sunpix!matthew
From: matthew@sunpix.UUCP ( Sun Visualization Products)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: UNIX "dot" files
Keywords: .cshrc .login
Message-ID: <958@friar-taac.UUCP>
Date: 25 Oct 89 19:26:37 GMT
References: <554@ncelvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: matthew@friar-taac.UUCP (Matthew Stier - Sun Visualization Products)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Lines: 45

In article <554@ncelvax.UUCP> cathy@ncelvax.UUCP (Cathy Benney) writes:
|
|	Hello. I have a question. Can anyone tell me why the
|	"dot" files- .cshrc, .login, .profile, etc., need to
|	have a "dot" as their first character?  What does that
|	do within the UNIX system?  Also, are there a limited
|	number of "dot" files, or can any file be assigned a
|	dot as its first character, and therefore take on some
|	special significance within the system?  (And if so, what
|	is that special significance?)
|
|	Thanks for taking time to respond.  I am working with 4.3 BSD.
|
|	-Cathy Benney-
|	-Port Hueneme, California-

The only special significance of files with a leading '.' (dot) is that they
are considered "normally" hidden.

The advantage of "normally" hidden files is that they don't clutter up your desktop
during normal operations. Try an 'ls' and then an 'ls -a', and see which one you'd
like all the time.

The only "special" files are '.' and '..'.  They are pointer to the current directory ('.')
and parent directory ('..').  They also make great shorthands for standard operations.

cd .. 

moves you to the current directories' parent directory.

cp /home/hishome/test .

makes a copy of file '/home/hishome/test' in the current directory.


As one instructor told me about UNIX(tm),

	"a file is a file, is a file .................."


-- 
Matthew Lee Stier                            |
Sun Microsystems ---  RTP, NC  27709-3447    |     "Wisconsin   Escapee"
uucp:  sun!mstier or mcnc!rti!sunpix!matthew |
phone: (919) 469-8300 fax: (919) 460-8355    |