Advanced Bash−Scripting Guide

Appendix G. A Sample .bashrc File
The ~/.bashrc file determines the behavior of interactive shells. A good look at this file can lead to a
better understanding of Bash.
Emmanuel Rouat contributed the following very elaborate .bashrc file, written for a Linux system. He
welcomes reader feedback on it.
Study the file carefully, and feel free to reuse code snippets and functions from it in your own .bashrc file
or even in your scripts.
Example G−1. Sample .bashrc file
#===============================================================
#
# PERSONAL $HOME/.bashrc FILE for bash−2.05a (or later)
#
# Last modified: Tue Apr 15 20:32:34 CEST 2003
#
# This file is read (normally) by interactive shells only.
# Here is the place to define your aliases, functions and
# other interactive features like your prompt.
#
# This file was designed (originally) for Solaris but based
# on Redhat's default .bashrc file
# −−> Modified for Linux.
# The majority of the code you'll find here is based on code found
# on Usenet (or internet).
# This bashrc file is a bit overcrowded − remember it is just
# just an example. Tailor it to your needs
#
#
#===============================================================
# −−> Comments added by HOWTO author.
# −−> And then edited again by ER :−)
#−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
# Source global definitions (if any)
#−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
if [ −f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc # −−> Read /etc/bashrc, if present.
fi
#−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
# Automatic setting of $DISPLAY (if not set already)
# This works for linux − your mileage may vary....
# The problem is that different types of terminals give
# different answers to 'who am i'......
# I have not found a 'universal' method yet
#−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
function get_xserver ()
{
case $TERM in
xterm )
Appendix G. A Sample .bashrc File 418