$startupfile()

Synopsis

$startupfile()

Return value

Returns the filename or script name selected for the client's startup load. It is recorded before /load runs, so a nonempty result does not prove the file loaded successfully. If startup loading was skipped with -q, or has not reached the selection step, the result is empty.

All arguments are ignored by the C handler. The function reads the stored selection without loading a file, checking its current existence, or changing startup settings.

Technical

Startup path selection uses this precedence:

1. -l <file> or -L <file> overrides the environment selection.
2. EPICRC selects a pathname when present; otherwise IRCRC does.
3. Without either environment variable, EPIC selects ~/.epicrc if it exists, otherwise ~/.ircrc.

At the startup-load step, a selected pathname that passes the operating-system readability check is stored and passed to /load. Otherwise the stored selection is the script name global, which /load resolves through its normal search rules. Override strings are retained as supplied, rather than reported as a canonical absolute pathname. The initial readability check does not perform tilde expansion on an override.

The selected value is not changed by subsequent manual loads or dumps. This is not a query for the file currently being loaded; $loadinfo() reports loader context.

Practical

The stored selection can help reload startup definitions after /dump. Reloading uses current /load resolution and settings, so it need not reproduce the original load. /dump all also does not recreate a fresh client process or reset all client state.

Examples

dump all
load $startupfile()

This discards the categories affected by /dump all and attempts to reload the stored startup selection. It assumes the result is nonempty and suitable for /load's filename parsing. /load does not group filenames with double quotes, so paths containing spaces require particular care rather than adding quotes blindly.

With -q, $startupfile() returns empty. If no readable selected startup pathname exists, it returns global even if loading that script subsequently fails.

History

First appeared in EPIC5-0.0.2.

Registration and function_startupfile(): source/functions.c. Startup options, environment selection, and load_ircrc(): source/irc.c. Default names: include/irc.h.