Editing your Bash Profile
To ‘permanently’ apply changes to your terminals functionality/appearance you will need to access the .bashrc and .bash_profile files. The contents of .bash_profile will get run for login shells (starting your terminal or sting to a new server).
It is possible to set custom colours/backgrounds as well as aliases and prompts. For non-login shells use .bashrc. If you are requiring the same setup for both of these you can set up your basic to defer to your bash profile settings or vice versa.
To edit the .bash_profile you will need writing permission so you may need to use sudo. After completing your edits run source ~/.bash_profile for the changes to take effect.
Setting Aliases
Aliases are shortcuts set to optimize repetitive commands, add shortcuts or safety nets. Setting aliases is a simple process. Once in your bash profile in a new line add alias aliasname=’command you want to alias’.