I am not able to use bash_profile.

Question

hi all
i am trying to run the following command
../.bash_profile
but its showing me error.
*-bash: ../.bash_profile: No such file or directory.
can anyone guide me how can i run it?
sarah

Answer 1

QGIRCO wrote:
i tried
cd
+. ./.bash_profile+
[oracle@localhost ~] $cd
[oracle@localhost ~] $ ../.bash_profile
bash: ../.bash_profile: No such file or directory
[oracle@localhost ~] $
sarahthe 'cd' command says 'take me to my home directory' which is probably /home/oracle
The double-dot at the beginning of your command says 'go up to the parent of the current directory. If the 'cd' took you to '/home/oracle', then the double-dot references '/home'. I doubt very seriously if your .bash_profile is in /home. It most certainly isn't in the parent of wherever your 'cd' command took you.
The commands you were directed to use was
. ./.bash_profileThat is , dot SPACE dot slash dot bash_profile.
You were entering dot dot slash dot bash_profile (no space after the first dot)
The dot followed by the space says to 'source' the following file. That means any environment variables will be set in the current environment, not the child environment that would normally be spawned off just for the purpose of running the command.
The first dot FOLLOWING the space says "start navigating for this command in the CURRENT directory.
You also asked earlier in this thread what is the purpose of .bash_profile. It is executed when you log on, to do whatever it is coded to do. Normally it is used to set the values of environment variables and define aliases.
Please tell me you are making a serious effort to get some real training in unix.