Christopher wrote:

> I've been trying to create default login scripts for my debian system.
> I've figured out that i can edit the scripts using "ae ~/.bashrc" or
> "ae ~/.profile". Trouble is what the heck does the ~/ stand for???
>
> I would like to know, because I would like to be able to locate the
> files directly. That way, I can create a backup disk with (for
> example) folders named /bash /etc /bin (etc) and then do a "cp -av .
> /" from the backup drive to restore all of my configuration files and
> folders.

"~" in several shells is a symbol which is expanded to the user's home
directory. E.g., since my home directory is /home/casey, ~/.profile would
be expanded to /home/casey/.profile.

--
ZZzz |\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey
/,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-'
'---''(_/--' `-'\_)

> "~" in several shells is a symbol which is expanded to the user's home
> directory. E.g., since my home directory is /home/casey, ~/.profile would
> be expanded to /home/casey/.profile.

you might want to try "echo ~" to provide the precise path that ~ expands
to.