shell_default(3)

NAME
shell_default - Customizing the Erlang environment.

DESCRIPTION

The functions in this module are called when no module name is specified in a shell command.

Consider the following shell dialog:

1> lists:reverse("abc").
"cba"
2> c(foo).
{ok, foo}

In command one, module lists is called. In command two, no module name is specified. The shell searches module user_default followed by module shell_default for function c/1.

shell_default is intended for "system wide" customizations to the shell. user_default is intended for "local" or individual user customizations.

HINT

To add your own commands to the shell, create a module called user_default and add the commands you want. Then add the following line as the first line in your .erlang file in your home directory.

code:load_abs("$PATH/user_default").

$PATH is the directory where your user_default module can be found.