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DOT(1P)                    POSIX Programmer's Manual                   DOT(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
       dot - execute commands in the current environment
SYNOPSIS
       . file
DESCRIPTION
       The shell shall execute commands from the file in the current  environ-
       ment.
       If  file  does not contain a slash, the shell shall use the search path
       specified by PATH to find the directory containing file. Unlike  normal
       command  search, however, the file searched for by the dot utility need
       not be executable. If no readable  file  is  found,  a  non-interactive
       shell  shall  abort; an interactive shell shall write a diagnostic mes-
       sage to standard error, but this condition shall not  be  considered  a
       syntax error.
OPTIONS
       None.
OPERANDS
       See the DESCRIPTION.
STDIN
       Not used.
INPUT FILES
       See the DESCRIPTION.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       See the DESCRIPTION.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.
STDOUT
       Not used.
STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
       None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.
EXIT STATUS
       Returns  the  value of the last command executed, or a zero exit status
       if no command is executed.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.
       The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
       None.
EXAMPLES
              cat foobar
              foo=hello bar=world. foobar
              echo $foo $bar
              hello world
RATIONALE
       Some older implementations searched the current directory for the file,
       even  if  the  value  of PATH disallowed it.  This behavior was omitted
       from this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 due to concerns  about  intro-
       ducing  the susceptibility to trojan horses that the user might be try-
       ing to avoid by leaving dot out of PATH.
       The KornShell version of dot takes optional arguments that are  set  to
       the  positional parameters. This is a valid extension that allows a dot
       script to behave identically to a function.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
SEE ALSO
       Special Built-In Utilities
COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),  The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open  Group.  In  the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
       is  the  referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                  2003                              DOT(1P)