03-bashrc.md

Editing your .bashrc file

If there are some things you wish to do every time you log in to the computer, such as load your required modules, configure your terminal, or set some environment variables, then it saves time to put them in a file that the bash shell will run every time it starts. This is your .bashrc file, in your home directory. It probably exists already (with some default contents) but doesn't show up when you type ls because its name begins with a . so it is hidden. To look for it, try:

$ cd ~
$ ls -al

To print its contents:

$ cat .bashrc

To edit it, using the vi ext editor (some instructions here):

$ vi .bashrc

You want to add these commands, for python3:

module load gnu-4.4-compilers
module load fftw-3.3.3
module load platform-mpi
module load python-3.5.2

So that your .bashrc file looks something like:

# .bashrc

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
	. /etc/bashrc
fi

module load gnu-4.4-compilers
module load fftw-3.3.3
module load platform-mpi
module load python-3.5.2

Remember! Your .bashrc is only executed when you first log in to a computer, so to test the effect of editing your .bashrc file you must log out and log back in again. (You can type source .bashrc to load an updated file, but this will do it on top of the original file, and the effect may be unexpected. It is safest to always log out and in again.)

Log out like this:

$ logout

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Next: 4. Installing additional Python packages