The default shell on u.arizona.edu is tcsh which is an enhanced version of csh.

Your new account does not contain individual shell and login files but you are welcome to create your own .tcshrc, .chsrc and .login files to contain commands that you wish to execute when you login or start a new shell. The .login file is executed only once when you login. Your .tcshrc/.cshrc file is executed at the start of each new shell and when you first login.

Order of execution:

• if .tcshrc is present, it is executed
• if no .tcshrc present, your .cshrc, if present, is executed
• local .login is executed

If you make a change or an addition to one of these scripts, you’ll need to re-execute it by doing source .login or source tcsh, depending on where you placed your definition. Place a command in .login if you want it to be set/executed whenever a login is performed or in .tcshrc/.cshrc if you want it set whenever a shell is spawned.

See the manpages for login, tcsh, and csh. Other shells with manpages are sh, ksh and bash.