Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!bionet!ames!pacbell!pbhyf!kjk
From: kjk@PacBell.COM (Ken Keirnan)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: UNIX "dot" files
Keywords: .cshrc .login
Message-ID: <6330@pbhyf.PacBell.COM>
Date: 27 Oct 89 19:21:28 GMT
References: <554@ncelvax.UUCP> <1464@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Reply-To: kjk@PacBell.COM (Ken Keirnan)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Lines: 22

In article <1464@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
>
>  Files with a dot as the first character are not display by default
>using ls. That keeps them from cluttering the listings. There is nothing
>else magic about the dot, and you can use it to keep files out of your
>way.
>



One other important aspect of "dot" files is they are not expanded by
the shell(s) when using file expansion metacharacters (?*[]). This give
"dot" files some protection from accidental erasure or modification.


Ken Keirnan
Pacific Bell

-- 

Ken Keirnan - Pacific Bell - {att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!pbhyf!kjk
  San Ramon, California	                    kjk@pbhyf.PacBell.COM