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bioShark
Asked: 2012-12-11 13:17:37 +0800 CST

Function inside .profile results in no log-in

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I've created a custom function in my .profile, and I've added right at the bottom, after my custom aliases :

# custom functions
function eclipse-gtk {
       cd ~/development/eclipse-juno
       ./eclipse_wb.sh &
       cd -
}

The function starts a custom version of my eclipse.

After I've added it, because I didn't wanted to log-out/log-in, I've reloaded my profile with the command:

. ~/.profile

and then I've tested my function by calling eclipse-gtk and it worked without any issue.

Today when I booted, I couldn't log in. After providing my password, in a few seconds I was back at the log-in screen. Dropping to command line using CTR + ALT + F1, I've commented out the function in my .profile and the log-in was possible without any issue.

My question is, what did I do wrong when I wrote the function? And if there is something wrong, why did it work yesterday after reloading the profile.

Thanks in advance.

Using: Ubuntu 12.04

bash

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I managed to find the problem. The syntax of the function name was wrong. Apparently I can't use "-" char in the function name.

    Here is the new function which is working and I can login without any issues:

    # custom functions
eclipsegtk() 
{
        cd ~/development/eclipse-juno
        ./eclipse_wb.sh &
        cd -
}
    • 2