.bashrc Vs .bash_profile

What is the difference between .bashrc and .bash_profile

Sometime many of us get confused whether to place our alias, export’s and init things in .bashrc or **.bash_profile. **

The answer to this doubt is very simple. Whenever you want to execute the commands automatically when user logins, place them in .bash_profile. Similarly whenever you want to execute the commands automatically when terminal is opened or /bin/bash is executed place then in .bashrc

In simple words,

• When user logs in to the Linux using username and password either locally or from remote via ssh the .bash_profile gets invoked
• When user open’s a new terminal or executes /bin/bash the .bashrc gets invoked

Further information

Basically .bashrc and .bash_profile are the two hidden files which are present under home directory in Unix like operating system(s). These are the files which is used to execute shell commands during login or when terminal is opened. RC in bashrc stands for run command.

Tips:

If you want to execute same commands both in .bash_profile and .bashrc. Place them only in .bashrc and source .bashrc inside .bash_profile

Example:

~/.bash_profile

source ~/.bashrc

~/.bashrc

alias l=”ls -ltr”
alias v=”vim”
alias gp="git pull"

In above example both when user logs in and terminal is invoked .bashrc is invoked

Note:

1. Each Unix like operating system have their own conventions, some OS use .profile ** instead of **.bash_profile
2. If your shell is bash then you have .bashrc, similarly if you using zsh then rc file will be .zshrc. Even vim and other applications like task uses same method to give user the flexibility to do some initialization stuff. Vim uses .vimrc and task(Taskwarrior) uses .taskrc to run initial commands