Ubuntu 19.04 .bash_profile doesn't exists

I'm trying to setup the WP-CLI completion from their sitebut I couldn't find the ~/.bash_profile file in my home directory and I tried the instructions with the ~/.bashrc file, I followed the zsh instructions too but it didn't work. Is it normal that there is no .bash_profile? Is it good if I create it manually?Terminal Files

1 Answer

Is it normal that there is no .bash_profile?

Yes it is - the default files copied from /etc/skel during account creation by adduser are:

$ ls -A /etc/skel
.bash_logout .bashrc .config .kshrc .mkshrc .profile Templates

As you can see, there is a default .bash_logout but no default .bash_profile.

Is it good if I create it manually?

Yes that's fine - be aware that if you do so, it will be read in preference to the ~/.profile file - from the INVOCATION section of man bash:

 When bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-inter‐ active shell with the --login option, it first reads and executes com‐ mands from the file /etc/profile, if that file exists. After reading that file, it looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order, and reads and executes commands from the first one that exists and is readable. The --noprofile option may be used when the shell is started to inhibit this behavior.

so you may wish to source ~/.profile from the new ~/.bash_profile in order to maintain any functionality that it provides.