Stage 2 · Lesson 8 of 9

Startup files and aliases

Your shell reads a few each time it opens. Interactive reads ~/.bashrc, zsh reads ~/.zshrc, and login shells also read a file such as ~/.profile or ~/.zprofile. These files are where PATH changes, exported variables and aliases belong.

An alias is a short name for a longer command, such as alias gs="git status". A small does the same job but can take . After editing, run source ~/.bashrc to reload, or just open a new tab. Kept in , these files later become your dotfiles.

Common trapediting the wrong file for your shell, then wondering why the change never applies.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it

Resources for this stage

Start with· follow one of these

CourseFree
The Missing Semester of Your CS Education
MIT · Beginner
MIT's lectures on the shell and shell tools, with exercises after each one
BookFree
The Linux Command Line
William Shotts · Beginner
A free book that explains the shell step by step; the first part covers this whole stage

Practise

OverTheWire: Bandit
A game played over SSH where each level needs a new command, from `ls` to finding hidden files

Keep handy

explainshell
Paste any command and see what each part does before you run it
tldr pages
Short, example-first help pages for common commands when a man page is too long

Also worth your time

roadmap.sh: Shell / BashGo deeper
The full map of shell and Bash topics, to see what comes after the basics