From: Ammar Ali <ammarabuali@...>
Date: 2010-01-27T19:04:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Why does `source .bashrc` complain "command not found"?

Adam Akhtar wrote:
> Thank you very much for both of your replies. I just tried
>
>  `/bin/bash -c 'source whatever'`
>
> and it worked! Fantastic.
>
> But i don't understand if source isnt a known command then how come when 
> i go to my command line and type source it works fine?
>
> Thats why i was initially confused. It worked manually but not inside a 
> script or in irb.
>
>   


source is a built-in shell command, not an executable. It is only 
available from within the shell. When you go to your command line, 
you're in the shell. In a ruby script, or irb, the above works because 
it runs the bash shell and hands it the commands to run as a string (the 
-c option).

Try running these:

$ which bash
# /bin/bash

$ which source
# returns nothing

HTH,
ammar