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In fact, you can see this for yourself right now. Execute the following command: 
ls -la /etc/skel
Now, you should be able to view the contents of the 
/etc/skel
 directory:
Figure 2.9: Default /etc/skel files
You probably already know how to list files within a
 directory, but I added the 
-a
 
option because I wanted to view hidden files as well. The files included in 
/etc/
skel
 by default are hidden (their filenames begin with a period). I threw in the 
-l
 
parameter solely because it shows a long list, which I think is easier to read.
Each time you create a new user and request a home directory to be created as well, 
these three files, shown in 
Figure 2.9
, will be copied into their home directory, along 
with any other files you create here. You can verify this by listing the storage of the 
home directories for the users you've created so far. The 
.bashrc
 file in one user's 
home directory should be the same as any other, unless they've made changes to it.
Armed with this knowledge, it should be extremely easy to create default files for 
new users that you create. For example, you could create a file named 
welcome
 with 
your favorite text editor and place it in 
/etc/skel
. Perhaps you may create this file to 
contain helpful phone numbers and information for new hires in your company. The 
file would then be automatically copied to the new user's home directory when you 
create the account. The user, after logging in, would see this file in his or her home 
directory and see the information. More practically, if your company has specific 
editor settings that are favored for writing code, you can include those files in 
/etc/
skel
 as well to help ensure your users are compliant. In fact, you can include default 
configuration files for any application your company uses.
Go ahead and give it a try. Feel free to create some
 random text files and then create 
a new user afterward, and you'll see that these files will propagate into the home 
directories of the new user accounts that you add to your system.
Now that we have multiple users and have also seen how to manage their default 
files, we can take a look at how to switch from one user to another.

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Chapter 2