Dot (command)

In a Unix shell, the full stop called the dot command (.) is a command that evaluates commands in a computer file in the current execution context.^[1] In the C shell, a similar functionality is provided as the source command,^[2] and this name is seen in "extended" POSIX shells as well.^[3][4]

The dot command is not to be confused with a dot file, which is a dot-prefixed hidden file or hidden directory. Nor is it to be confused with the ./scriptfile notation for running commands, which is simply a relative path pointing to the current directory (notated in Unix as a '.' character, and typically outside of the Path variable).