How can I edit the $PATH on linux?

I am using ubuntu 9.04 I need to add some folder to my $PATH. I know how to read the path:

echo $PATH

I want to be able to edit it and add 2 other paths.

Thanks

2

8 Answers

To permanently store your path, you have a few options.

I suggest you read the Ubuntu community wiki on Environment Variables but the short answer is the best place is ~/.profile for your per-user PATH setting or /etc/profile for global settings.

Change PATH:

1. Append something to your PATH

   export PATH=$PATH:/your/new/path/here

2. Override your PATH (save backup before!)

   export PATH=:/your/new/path/here:/another/new/path/here

2

PATH=$PATH:newPath1:newPAth2
export PATH

2

You can also put this in the global environment:

sudo emacs /etc/environment

Append to the entries already in your path

PATH="/path/to/file:/other/paths"

Reload the environment

source /etc/environment

1

It has already been answered on how to do that, but I'd like to give you a little tip. Here is whatI do:

I have a directory called .bash.d in my $HOME and within that I keep a set of shell scripts that do stuff to my environment (for instance setup maven correctly, modify the path, set my prompt etc.). I keep this under version control by using git, which makes it easy to go back to a working version of your env, if you screw something up badly. To get all the modifications, I simply source all files in that dir at the end of my .bashrc like this:

for i in $HOME/.bash.d/*; do source $i; done
unset i

This gives you a very flexible environment that you can easily modify and restore + you are able to export it to other machines just by using git.

echo PATH=$PATH:path1:path2 > tmp

Edit the file tmp with your favourite text editor so the value of PATH is exactly what you want

. ./tmp

A variant from above, if you don't want to change the /etc/profile file directly. You can create a new file yourpath.sh in the /etc/profile.d/ directory. Then edit this file like that. With vim editor (but feel free to edit it with another editor):vim /etc/profile.d/yourpath.sh

MYPATH='/your/new/path/'
export MYPATH
export PATH=$PATH:$MYPATH

:write and quit and it's done your path has been modified. If your are using the terminal, close it and reopen it . your new variable will be updated. Now it is cleaner, you can remove this file when you don't need it anymore and it doesn't interfer with the initial configuration.

1

All answers intend to add to the PATH but this is how you remove an environment variable

Suppose you had the path

PATH=/home/pradan/ti-processor-sdk-linux-am57xx-evm-06.02.00.81/linux-devkit/sysroots/x86_64-arago-linux/usr/bin:...other variables...:/snap/bin

and want to remove the first variable /home/pradan/ti-processor-sdk-linux-am57xx-evm-06.02.00.81/linux-devkit/sysroots/x86_64-arago-linux/usr/bin.

1. Open the .profile and edit it

$ gedit ~/.profile

A text editor open up with the hated variable as shown Comment it out and after Ctrl+S, close this file.

2. Source the script

$ source /etc/environment

And Done :)

To verify, recheck the updated path using printenv.

If you're using ZSH, you can edit your paths like this:

nano ~/.zshrc

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