dot(1)                                                           dot(1)

  .

  NAME

    . - Execute shell file in current environment

  SYNOPSIS

    . file [argument ...]

  DESCRIPTION

    This command is a Korn-shell built-in command.

    The period, or dot (.), runs a shell script in the current environment,
    and then returns. The shell typically runs a command file in a subshell,
    so that changes to the environment through commands such as cd, set, and
    trap are strictly local to the command file. The dot command enables you
    to circumvent this feature.

    If there are slashes (/) in the file name, dot searches for the named
    file. If there are no slashes, dot uses the search PATH variable to find
    file. If using dot to execute a file under the current directory results
    in the shell not locating the shell file, it is likely that the search
    rules are not set up to search the current directory. You can solve this
    problem by using:

    . ./file

    . ./file indicates that the shell file you want to run is in the current
    directory, which is not required to be executable even if it is searched
    for on the PATH. If you specify more than one argument, dot sets
    positional parameters to the argument list before running it.

  ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

    Environment variable     Description

    PATH                     Contains a list of directories that dot
                             searches when attempting to find file.

  DIAGNOSTICS

    Possible exit-status values are:

    Value     Description

    1         Path search failed or file is unreadable.

    2         Failure because of an invalid command-line option.

    Otherwise, the exit status is that of the last command carried out from
    the script.