Comparison Between. bash_profile and. bashrc

In a word,. bash_profile is the environment variable after login, And. bashrc is not logged on

When working with Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS x, I always forget which bash config file to edit when I want to set my path and other environmental variables for my shell. shocould you edit. bash_profile or. bashrc in your home directory?

You can put comprehenations in either file, and you can create either if it doesn' t exist. But why two different files? What is the difference?

According to the bash man page,. bash_profile is executed for login shells, while. bashrc is executed for interactive non-login shells.

Ref: http://www.joshstaiger.org/archives/2005/07/bash_profile_vs.html