Hiyas,
Being a newbie, I may have this totally wrong (please let me know if I do!).
However, I believe it is due to some shells not considering the working
directory part of the path. bash and tcsh do not consider the working
directory (where you are currently entering commands) as a part of the
execution path, so when you type in the name of a program in the local
directory, it hunts through the path (/usr/bin, /sbin, etc.) and does not
find the application.
Problem: I don't know what shells don't do this. I suspect you could add ./
to the path list in .bashrc (or .tcshrc, etc.) for your shell, but I have
never tried (and therefore don't know how).
Half your answer! Maybe... :)
Chris.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barry Winch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 6:31 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [newbie] Command execution
>
>
> Can someone please explain the concept behind ./ in executing
> a command.
>
> If I am in the directory where the programme resides and type
> the programme
> name, I get a:
> "bash: programme name: command not found" message
>
> If, from the same directory I type ./programme name
> everything works as
> advertised.
>
> Thanks
>
> Barry
>
>
