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The .bashrc file and its purpose

Caution

Editing the .bashrc file can lead to a corrupted shell environment which can leave you unable to login or run programs.

Please take care if editing this file and consider using the modules system to add directories to the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH to avoid inadvertent mistakes.

If you find your shell environment is behaving oddly, programs are no longer available and you suspect you may have corrupted your shell environment by editing the .bashrc file you can reset it with the command resetenv then logging out and back in.

The .bashrc file is a hidden script file located in a user’s home directory which runs when the user logs in using the bash shell. The contents of .bashrc can be changed to define functions, command aliases, and customize the bash shell to the user’s liking.

As this file is executed when the user logs in, it can be customised to add additional directories to the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH in order to make software available to the shell.

Adding a directory such as a personal installation directory with executables and libraries can be achieved as shown in the next section.