How to restore .bashrc

Question

Terminal shows this

bash: /home/atlas/.bashrc: line 73: syntax error near unexpected token `['
bash: /home/atlas/.bashrc: line 73: `if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ] ; then '
I've tried to fix it using
"cp /ect/skel/.bashrc ~/"

And I get this "cp: cannot stat `/ect/skel/.bashrc': No such file or directory"

I'm unsure of why this is doing this and how to fix it. I had previously been in the bashrc file messing around and apparently I've messed something up. All I want to do is restore the bashrc file to factory settings.

Answer 1

I think you got the path wrong - it's etc not ect.

In Ubuntu, there is a default version of the .bashrc file in the /etc/skel/ directory, so if you have problems with it you can restore it.

To do so follow the next steps:

1. Backup your current .bashrc file:

   cp ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.bak

2. Copy the skeleton .bashrc file over yours:

   cp /etc/skel/.bashrc ~/

3. Afterwards, load the new one:

   source ~/.bashrc

Answer 2

You don't necessarily need to recreate it, just look at what the error message is telling you. It's saying that you have a syntax error in your file. With what you have, I'd say it's incorrect in key places.

Instead of if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ] ; then

It should be if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then

Note the lack of space between the ] and the ;.

Also, for reference, here's that whole if block:

# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dirc$
    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'
    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'

    alias grep='grep --color=auto'
    alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
    alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
fi