After
the system initialisation the system consults (see
consult/1)
the user's startup file. The base-name of this file follows conventions
of the operating system. On MS-Windows, it is the file
pl.ini
and on Unix systems .plrc
. The file is
searched using the file_search_path/2
clauses for user_profile
. The table below shows the default
value for this search-path. The phrase <appdata> refers
to the Windows CSIDL name for the folder. The actual name depends on the
Windows language. English versions typically use
ApplicationData
. See also win_folder/2
Unix | Windows | |
local | . | . |
home | | <appdata>/SWI-Prolog |
After the first startup file is found it is loaded and Prolog stops
looking for further startup files. The name of the startup file can be
changed with the `-f file' option. If File
denotes an absolute path, this file is loaded, otherwise the file is
searched for using the same conventions as for the default startup file.
Finally, if file is
none
, no file is loaded.
The installation provides a file customize/dotplrc
with
(commented) commands that are often used to customize the behaviour of
Prolog, such as interfacing to the editor, color selection or history
parameters. Many of the development tools provide menu entries for
editing the startup file and starting a fresh startup file from the
system skeleton.
See also the -s (script) and -F (system-wide initialisation) in section 2.4 and section 2.3.