profile or . bash_profile files in your home directory. These files are used to set environmental items for a users shell. Items such as umask, and variables such as PS1 or PATH . The /etc/profile file is not very different however it is used to set system wide environmental variables on users shells.

What is profile in Unix?

profile File. The file /etc/profile is maintained by the system administrator of your Unix machine and contains shell initialization information required by all users on a system. The file .profile is under your control. You can add as much shell customization information as you want to this file.

Where is profile in Linux?

The . profile file is an important part of automating your software installations. The . profile file is located in the user-specific folder called /home/<username>.