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<H1><A NAME="SEC15" HREF="zsh_toc.html#TOC15">Files</A></H1>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="SEC16" HREF="zsh_toc.html#TOC16">Startup/Shutdown Files</A></H2>
<P>
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Commands are first read from <TT>/etc/zshenv</TT>; this cannot be overridden.
Subsequent behaviour is modified by the <TT>RCS</TT> and
<TT>GLOBAL_RCS</TT> options; the former affects all startup files, while the
second only affects those in the <TT>/etc</TT> directory. If one of the options
is unset at any point, any subsequent startup file(s) of the corresponding
type will not be read. It is also possible for a file in <TT>$ZDOTDIR</TT> to
re-enable <TT>GLOBAL_RCS</TT>. Both <TT>RCS</TT> and <TT>GLOBAL_RCS</TT> are set by
default.
<P>
Commands are then read from <TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zshenv</TT>.
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If the shell is a login shell, commands
are read from <TT>/etc/zprofile</TT> and then <TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zprofile</TT>.
Then, if the shell is interactive,
commands are read from <TT>/etc/zshrc</TT> and then <TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zshrc</TT>.
Finally, if the shell is a login shell, <TT>/etc/zlogin</TT> and
<TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zlogin</TT> are read.
<P>
When a login shell exits, the files <TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zlogout</TT> and then
<TT>/etc/zlogout</TT> are read. This happens with either an explicit exit
via the <TT>exit</TT> or <TT>logout</TT> commands, or an implicit exit by reading
end-of-file from the terminal. However, if the shell terminates due
to <TT>exec</TT>'ing another process, the logout files are not read.
These are also affected by the <TT>RCS</TT> and <TT>GLOBAL_RCS</TT> options.
Note also that the <TT>RCS</TT> option affects the saving of history files,
i.e. if <TT>RCS</TT> is unset when the shell exits, no history file will be
saved.
<P>
If <TT>ZDOTDIR</TT> is unset, <TT>HOME</TT> is used instead.
Those files listed above as being in <TT>/etc</TT> may be in another
directory, depending on the installation.
<P>
As <TT>/etc/zshenv</TT> is run for all instances of zsh, it is important that
it be kept as small as possible. In particular, it is a good idea to
put code that does not need to be run for every single shell behind
a test of the form `<TT>if [[ -o rcs ]]; then ...</TT>' so that it will not
be executed when zsh is invoked with the `<TT>-f</TT>' option.
<H2><A NAME="SEC17" HREF="zsh_toc.html#TOC17">Files</A></H2>
<P>
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<DL COMPACT>
<DT><TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zshenv</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zprofile</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zshrc</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zlogin</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>$ZDOTDIR/.zlogout</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>${TMPPREFIX}*</TT> (default is /tmp/zsh*)
<DD>
<DT><TT>/etc/zshenv</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>/etc/zprofile</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>/etc/zshrc</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>/etc/zlogin</TT>
<DD>
<DT><TT>/etc/zlogout</TT> (installation-specific - <TT>/etc</TT> is the default)
<DD>
<DT>
<DD>
</DL>
<P>
Any of these files may be pre-compiled with the <TT>zcompile</TT> builtin
command (section <A HREF="zsh_16.html#SEC83">Shell Builtin Commands</A>). If a compiled file exists (named for the original file plus the
<TT>.zwc</TT> extension) and it is newer than the original file, the compiled
file will be used instead.
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