Dot (command)
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Not to be confused with DOT (graph description language).
In a Unix shell, the full stop called the dot command (.) is a command that evaluates commands in a computer file in the current execution context.[1] In the C shell, a similar functionality is provided as the source
command,[2] and this name is seen in "extended" POSIX shells as well.[3][4]
The dot command is not to be confused with a dot file, which is a dot-prefixed hidden file or hidden directory. Nor is it to be confused with the ./scriptfile
notation for running commands, which is simply a relative path pointing to the current directory (notated in Unix as a '.' character, and typically outside of the Path variable).