Every time I need to add a new PATH in my bash_profile I just append it to my old path using something like
PATH=$PATH:.....
Then I export PATH at the end.
If I wanted to add another path and left out the above and just created a new path, would it reset the path to just this new path?
If I exported the PATH before the new path would it not even reach the new PATH?
If you make an export of the PATH it will live only in the current session. The changes into the bash_profile will be permanent, and take effect after restarting the terminal.
So if you export the PATH with the new content, it doesn't mind what content it has into the bash_profile, because you will overwrite it. But when you restart the session, it will have the content of the bash_profile file.
I hope this answer your question.
~]$ export PATH=/bin
~]$ echo $PATH
/bin
~]$ export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
~]$ echo $PATH
/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
~]$ export PATH=/usr/local/bin
~]$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin
you use export to make a local shell variable global. Meaning, to make a shell variable available across inherited sub shell sessions.
Hence it is enough to export a shell variable just once. You can alter the values as you wish without exporting it again.
Read more here
Related
What is the mechanism that rustup uses to set the PATH variable? I couldn't find any entry in my .bashrc.
Apparently the PATH variable is exported in .profile in the user home directory:
export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
The following command works on Mac:
source $HOME/.cargo/env
I want to create a command that runs an executable created by compiling a c program. I couldn't find a proper solution. Let's say I have a file named myprogram.c and compile it and have myprogram as . I want to type myprogram in any folder in my system and run it. How can I achieve this?
First find out what your PATH is
echo $PATH
For you this outputs
/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin
Then assuming your program is in the /usr/myprog directory, append /usr/myprog to your PATH (don't forget to separate directories with a colon :)
export PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/myprog
Doing this tells the system when you don't specify an absolute path (like ./myprogram) to look in all the directories in PATH. It is good to add the absolute path of your executable to PATH because adding . to your PATH is frowned upon by some (see this question).
You have to add it in your PATH from your shell rc file
You place the executable into a directory that your shell already searches for programs, or you add your program's location to that list.
the $PATH environment variable contains this information. You can add myProgram's location to it, i.e. export PATH=$PATH:/new/dir, or just print out $PATH and copy myProgram into one of the paths listed there already.
When I use the command:
meteor create myfolder
It won't by default allow meteor to install itself if the folder is already existing. I can't find an option to force it. Is it really necessary that Meteor creates the directory by itself first or is this just because of 'good practice'?
I want to automate the creation of a folder first and run the meteor command afterwards, hence the question.
Maybe you want a shell script like the following:
$DIR = <some variable>
if [ ! -f "$DIR" ]; then
meteor create tempDir
mv tempDir/* "$DIR/"
rmdir tempDir
fi
which will copy the contents into your new directory, as long as it doesn't contain any Meteor files already.
I'm having some trouble in exporting the PATH I've modified inside the Makefile into the current Terminal.
I'm trying to add to the PATH, the bin folder inside wherever the Makefile directory is.
Here's the relevant strip of the makefile:
PATH := $(shell pwd)/bin:$(PATH)
install:
mkdir -p ./bin
export PATH
echo $(PATH)
The echo prints it correctly but if I redo the echo in the terminal, the PATH remains the same.
Thanks in advance for the help.
If you're using GNU make, you need to explicitly export the PATH variable to the environment for subprocesses:
export PATH := $(shell pwd)/bin:$(PATH)
install:
mkdir -p ./bin
export PATH
echo $(PATH)
What you are trying to do is not possible. Make is running in another process than the shell in your terminal. Changes to the environment in the make process does not transfer to the shell.
Perhaps you are confusing the effect of the export statement. export does not export the values of the variables from the make process to the shell. Instead, export marks variables so they will be transfered any child processes of make. As far as I know there is no way to change the environment of the parent process (the shell where you started make is the parent process of the make process).
Perhaps this answers will make the concept of exporting variables to child processes a bit clearer.
Perhaps you can rely on the user to do it for you. Note the quoting
install_hint:
#echo "Execute this command at your shell prompt:"
#echo "export PATH=$(shell pwd)/bin:\$$PATH"
When setting the export path in Unix, example:
export PATH=$PATH: $EC2_HOME/bin
If I quit terminal and open it back up to continue working, I have to go through all the steps again, setting up the paths each time.
I'm wondering how I can set the path and have it "stick" so my system knows where to find everything the next time I open terminal without having to do it all over again.
Thanks!
Open ~/.bashrc. This file is loaded every time you start up a new shell (if you're using Bash, which most people are). If you're using a different shell, the file may have a different name, like ~/.shrc.
Add the line you need to the bottom of the file:
export PATH=$PATH:$EC2_HOME/bi
Other info rolled up from elsewhere in the thread:
There are multiple places to put this, depending on your shell and your needs. All of these files are in your home directory:
For Bash:
.bashrc (executed when you shart a shell)
OR
.bash_profile (executed when you log in)
For csh and tcsh:
.cshrc
For sh and ksh:
.profile
Add it to your .cshrc file (for csh and tcsh), .profile file (for sh and ksh), or .bash_profile file (for bash)
You need to find your profile file and put that line in there. Suppose you use bash, the profile files are .bashrc and .bash_profile, found in ~. These files will vary depending on which shell you use.
You have to put those commands into one of the "autostart" files of your shell.
For bash this would be .bashrc in your homedirectory (create it if necessary)
add it to your .bashrc or another .bash startup file.
... and for ksh edit .profile.