zprofile

zprofile is a startup file used by the Z shell (zsh) to configure the environment for login shells. It is read after zshenv/zshenv for login sessions and is typically located at ~/.zprofile for user-specific settings, with a system-wide counterpart at /etc/zprofile. The primary purpose of zprofile is to establish environment variables and other settings that should apply to the login process, rather than to interactive command-line features.

In the zsh startup sequence, a login shell reads several files in a defined order. First, /etc/zshenv and ~/.zshenv are processed, followed by /etc/zprofile and ~/.zprofile for login shells. After that, /etc/zshrc and ~/.zshrc handle interactive behaviors, and finally /etc/zlogin and ~/.zlogin complete the login sequence. This separation means zprofile is the appropriate place for environment configuration such as PATH, locale, and other shell-wide variables, while zshrc is more suited to aliases, functions, and interactive prompts.

Common usage examples include setting or exporting environment variables, configuring PATH, defining language and locale settings, and establishing default file creation permissions. For example:

- export PATH="$HOME/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

- export EDITOR=vim

- export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

It is also common to source additional files from zprofile, or conditionally load settings only in a login context, to avoid duplicating configuration in non-login shells.

Notes: zprofile is not read by non-login or non-interactive shells, so other configuration (such as aliases and interactive features) should go into zshrc or related files. On systems where the default shell is zsh, macOS Terminal and similar environments typically invoke login shells, making zprofile a frequently used place for initial environment setup.