(features.info)Bash Startup Files

Bash Startup Files
==================

   When and how Bash executes startup files.

     For Login shells (subject to the -noprofile option):
     
         On logging in:
            If `/etc/profile' exists, then source it.
     
            If `~/.bash_profile' exists, then source it,
               else if `~/.bash_login' exists, then source it,
                  else if `~/.profile' exists, then source it.
     
         On logging out:
            If `~/.bash_logout' exists, source it.
     
     For non-login interactive shells (subject to the -norc and -rcfile options):
         On starting up:
            If `~/.bashrc' exists, then source it.
     
     For non-interactive shells:
         On starting up:
            If the environment variable `ENV' is non-null, expand the
            variable and source the file named by the value.  If Bash is
            not started in Posix mode, it looks for `BASH_ENV' before
            `ENV'.

   So, typically, your `~/.bash_profile' contains the line
     `if [ -f `~/.bashrc' ]; then source `~/.bashrc'; fi'

after (or before) any login specific initializations.

   If Bash is invoked as `sh', it tries to mimic the behavior of `sh'
as closely as possible.  For a login shell, it attempts to source only
`/etc/profile' and `~/.profile', in that order.  The `-noprofile'
option may still be used to disable this behavior.  A shell invoked as
`sh' does not attempt to source any other startup files.

   When Bash is started in POSIX mode, as with the `-posix' command
line option, it follows the Posix 1003.2 standard for startup files.
In this mode, the `ENV' variable is expanded and that file sourced; no
other startup files are read.