dot file

2 definitions found

dot file - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  dot file
  
     <operating system, convention> A Unix application program
     configuration file.  On Unix, files named with a leading dot
     are not normally shown in directory listings.  Many programs
     define one or more dot files in which startup or configuration
     information may be optionally recorded; a user can customise
     the program's behaviour by creating the appropriate file in
     the current or home directory.
  
     Dot files tend to proliferate - with every nontrivial
     application program defining at least one, a user's home
     directory can be filled with scores of dot files, without the
     user really being aware of it.  Common examples are .profile,
     .cshrc, .login, .emacs, .mailrc, .forward, .newsrc, .plan,
     .rhosts, .sig, .xsession.
  
     See also profile, rc file.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1994-12-07)
  

dot file - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  dot file
   n.
  
     A file that is not visible by default to normal directory-browsing
     tools (on Unix, files named with a leading dot are, by convention,
  not
     normally presented in directory listings). Many programs define one
  or
     more dot files in which startup or configuration information may be
     optionally recorded; a user can customize the program's behavior by
     creating the appropriate file in the current or home directory.
     (Therefore, dot files tend to creep -- with every nontrivial
     application program defining at least one, a user's home directory
  can
     be filled with scores of dot files, of course without the user's
     really being aware of it.) See also profile (sense 1), rc file.