Install script should use \. in case of overridden .

[ranqiangjun]

Since #576 was closed. I create a new one here.

I got the same error after installed nvm followed the README on macOS Sierra 10.12.1.

-bash: nvm: command not found

According to @ljharb 's comment: #576 (comment)

. something and source something are the same, except that the . is more portable, so you should definitely remove that redundant source line.

It is NOT TRUE that . something and source something are the same.

In my MBP, . is an alias of cd .. defined in the .bash_profile file. I am not sure it was provided by default or not. But after I replaced . with source explicitly, the nvm works.

Before:

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && .  "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm

After:

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && source "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm

I suggest that whether the . alias was provided by default or not, we should modify our README and INSTALL SCRIPT to use source explicitly, not the ..

[ljharb]

@ranqiangjun wow, i've never heard of anyone aliasing over . before - that's hugely problematic and might break a lot of tools. It's definitely not a default.

source does not work on all of the shells that nvm supports. . is the proper thing to use.

[ljharb]

It might be possible to use \. to source it while bypassing the alias. Does this work for you?

[ranqiangjun]

\. Works for me. Thanks for your quick response!

[ljharb]

Great, if that change also works on other shells, I'll add that to the install script.

That said, you absolutely should remove that alias immediately - . is a very important shell builtin.

[ranqiangjun]

I run this kind of script before https://github.com/darol100/lazydubuntu/blob/master/bin/lazyaliases.sh. It added aliases for me automatically. I'll remove that. Thanks again. @ljharb

[ljharb]

Nothing in that script aliases over one dot, only 2, 3, and 4 dots.

[ranqiangjun]

Yes, that script is fine. It is only an example. I just don't know which script added that.

In my .bash_profile

I found:

## a quick way to get out of current directory ##
alias .='cd ..'
alias ..='cd ../..'
alias ...='cd ../../../'
alias ....='cd ../../../../'
alias .....='cd ../../../.././'

It is for sure that this is not added by me manually. Because English is not my first language, that comment ## a quick way to get out of current directory ## is perfect and I can't not write like that.

[ljharb]

I'd definitely recommend removing all of those aliases and just using cd when you want to change directories :-p

Thanks for the report!

[ranqiangjun]

All removed. I appreciate your time.