There are many ways to customize your system environment. This section discusses the following procedures:
A local shell variable is a variable known only to the shell that created it. If you start a new shell, the old shell's variables are unknown to it. If you want the new shells that you open to know the variables from an old shell, you need to make the variables global by exporting them.
You can use the export command to make local variables global. To make your local shell variables global automatically, export them in your .profile file.
Note: Variables can be exported down to child shells but not exported up to parent shells.
For example, to make the local shell variable PATH global, enter:
export path
For example, to list all your exported variables, enter:
export
The system displays information similar to the following:
DISPLAY=unix:0 EDITOR=vi ENV=$HOME/.env HISTFILE=/u/denise/.history HISTSIZE=500 HOME=/u/denise LANG=En_US LOGNAME=denise MAIL=/usr/mail/denise MAILCHECK=0 MAILMSG=**YOU HAVE NEW MAIL. USE THE mail COMMAND TO SEE YOUR MAILPATH=/usr/mail/denise?denise has mail !!! MAILRECORD=/u/denise/.Outmail PATH=/usr/ucb:/usr/lpp/X11/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/etc:/u/denise:/u/denise/bin:/u/bin1 PWD=/u/denise SHELL=/bin/ksh
You can change the default font at system startup with the chfont or smit command. A font palette is a file that the system uses to define and identify the fonts it has available.
Note: You must have root authority to run the chfont command.
For example, to change the active font to the fifth font in the font palette, enter:
chfont -a5
Font ID 5 becomes the primary font.
For example, to change the font to an italic, roman, and bold face of the same size, enter:
chfont -n /usr/lpp/fonts/It114.snf /usr/lpp/fonts/Bld14.snf /usr/lpp/fonts/Rom14.snf
See the chfont command in the AIX Version 4.3 Commands Reference for more information and the exact syntax. See also Listing the Available Fonts (lsfont Command)
The chfont command can also be run using smit.
To select the active font, enter:
smit chfont
To select the font palette, enter:
smit chfontpl
You can change the keys your terminal uses for control keys with the stty command. Your changes to control keys last until you log off. To make your changes permanent, place them in your .profile file.
For example, to assign Ctrl-Z as the interrupt key, enter:
stty intr ^Z
For example, to reset all control keys to their default values, enter:
stty sane
For example, to display your current settings, enter:
stty -a
See the stty command in the AIX Version 4.3 Commands Reference for the exact syntax.
Your shell uses three prompt variables:
| PS1 | Prompt used as the normal system prompt. |
| PS2 | Prompt used when the shell expects more input. |
| PS3 | Prompt used when you have root authority. |
You can change any of your prompt characters by changing the value of its shell variable. Your changes to your prompts last until you log off. To make your changes permanent, place them in your .env file.
For example, to display the current value of the PS1 variable, enter:
echo "prompt is $PS1"
The system displays information similar to the following:
prompt is $
For example, to change your prompt to Ready> , enter:
PS1="Ready> "
For example, to change your continuation prompt to Enter more-> , enter:
PS2="Enter more->"
For example, to change your root prompt to Root-> , enter:
PS3="Root-> "
User Environment and System Information
System Initialization Files Overview
Customization of the InfoExplorer ASCII Program
Customization of the InfoExplorer Windows Program