Accidentally changed the bashrc file when making a change cannot find it in terminal though it appears in file browser

HectorMHH · 10-16-2017, 04:16 AM

I was making a change to bashrc to set JAVA as a login variable when i accidentally saved it with a new name, when i go into file browser i can see the file but when i look for it in console it isn't there, I am very new at linux so any help is appreciated.

bloodh101 · 10-16-2017, 04:18 AM

May be a silly answer, but have you tried:

Code:

ls -la

The 'l' outputs it in list format (so optional)
but -a shows all files, including hidden files, which wouldn't show up with a standard ls.

brianL · 10-16-2017, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HectorMHH

I was making a change to bashrc to set JAVA as a login variable when i accidentally saved it with a new name, when i go into file browser i can see the file but when i look for it in console it isn't there, I am very new at linux so any help is appreciated.

If it's .bashrc, you need to enter:

Code:

ls -a

in the terminal or console to show hidden files, starting with a .

onebuck · 10-16-2017, 05:03 PM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Quote:

Originally Posted by HectorMHH

I was making a change to bashrc to set JAVA as a login variable when i accidentally saved it with a new name, when i go into file browser i can see the file but when i look for it in console it isn't there, I am very new at linux so any help is appreciated.

Other members have offered good suggestions for your query. For the future I recommend that you can learn from the following;

Quote:

Just a few links to aid you to gaining some understanding.

  1 Linux Documentation Project 

2 Rute Tutorial & Exposition 

3 Linux Command Guide  

4 Bash Beginners Guide 

5 Bash Reference Manual 

6 Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide 

7 Linux-Newbie 

8 LinuxSelfHelp 

9 Utimate Linux Newbie Guide

10 Tutorials

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

HectorMHH · 10-17-2017, 03:30 AM

I can see the bashrc file in there and it seems fine, its just that when i try to do nano~/ .bshrc it can't perform the action as it can't locate the file

bloodh101 · 10-17-2017, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HectorMHH

I can see the bashrc file in there and it seems fine, its just that when i try to do nano~/ .bshrc it can't perform the action as it can't locate the file

Just in case that's not a typo.

Code:

nano ~/.bashrc

Make sure theres a space after nano. If it can't find the file it should still open nano; It will say "[ New File ]" at the bottom.

fatmac · 10-17-2017, 04:07 AM

As said above, it is a 'dot' file, generally hidden from a user because it affects how your system works.

To edit it use

Code:

nano .bashrc

HectorMHH · 10-17-2017, 04:55 AM

I have done that and now the files empty.

I forgot to mention i located the file already using the nano ~/.bashrc and then when i edited to set up a variable i accidentally saved it under a different name and i can't find that file

bloodh101 · 10-17-2017, 05:20 AM

If you know what you called the file you could try:

Code:

locate filename

ondoho · 10-17-2017, 12:20 PM

^ locate might not help in this case.
try

Code:

find -name '*filename'

instead

suicidaleggroll · 10-17-2017, 12:41 PM

You could also try

Code:

ls -lrta

in your home directory to list all files and sort them by last modified time. If you did this recently, your file should be listed near the end.

Shadow_7 · 10-18-2017, 06:55 AM

The environment variable $HOME and the shorthand ~ are equivalent depending on your shell / use case.

$ nano $HOME/.bashrc

fatmac · 10-18-2017, 01:20 PM

If you are saying that you saved the file under a different name, & can't remember what name, you can search by using the date that you created the file.