Oracle Database Discussions

Hi Experts,

Can you clear my doubts on .bash_profile.

1. When and why should we create .bash_profile (After/Before installing Oracle)
2. I have a Linux machine where I want to install Oracle, when I try to edit the .bash_profile before installing oracle. I got the below error.

-bash-3.2$ ~/.bash_profile
-bash: /oracle/home/oracle/.bash_profile: No such file or directory

After searching in oracle forum, I have used the suggestions given by the experts and got the below results:

-bash-3.2$ echo $SHELL
*/bin/bash*

-bash-3.2$ more /etc/passwd | grep oracle
oracle:x:502:503::/oracle/home/oracle:/bin/bash

My home path was correct where I was trying to edit .bash_profile but got error stating "No Such file", So again I tried another Suggestion,

-bash-3.2$ ls -la | grep .bash_profile
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 0 Mar 12 17:00 .bash_profile

The above command shows that .bash_profile is present but I am not able to find where?

When I tried to open with cat command, it shows nothing..

3. Can I install Oracle without setting .bash_profile, will this installation work?

Can anyone explain and clear my doubts please....

OS -RHEL 5.7
ORACLE DATABASE 11.2.0.3


Thanks in advance..