I'm using zsh terminal, and I'm trying to add a new entry (/home/david/pear/bin) to the PATH variable. I don't see a reference to the PATH variable in my ~/.zshrc file, but doing echo $PATH returns:
/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
So I know that the path variable is being set somewhere. Where is the PATH variable set / modified for the zsh terminal?
Actually, using ZSH allows you to use special mapping of environment variables. So you can simply do:
# append
path+=('/home/david/pear/bin')
# or prepend
path=('/home/david/pear/bin' $path)
# export to sub-processes (make it inherited by child processes)
export PATH
For me that's a very neat feature which can be propagated to other variables.
Example:
typeset -T LD_LIBRARY_PATH ld_library_path :
Here, add this line to .zshrc:
export PATH=/home/david/pear/bin:$PATH
EDIT: This does work, but ony's answer above is better, as it takes advantage of the structured interface ZSH provides for variables like $PATH. This approach is standard for bash, but as far as I know, there is no reason to use it when ZSH provides better alternatives.
You can append to your PATH in a minimal fashion. No need for
parentheses unless you're appending more than one element. It also
usually doesn't need quotes. So the simple, short way to append is:
path+=/some/new/bin/dir
This lower-case syntax is using path as an array, yet also
affects its upper-case partner equivalent, PATH (to which it is
"bound" via typeset).
(Notice that no : is needed/wanted as a separator.)
Common interactive usage
Then the common pattern for testing a new script/executable becomes:
path+=$PWD/.
# or
path+=$PWD/bin
Common config usage
You can sprinkle path settings around your .zshrc (as above) and it will naturally lead to the earlier listed settings taking precedence (though you may occasionally still want to use the "prepend" form path=(/some/new/bin/dir $path)).
Related tidbits
Treating path this way (as an array) also means: no need to do a
rehash to get the newly pathed commands to be found.
Also take a look at vared path as a dynamic way to edit path
(and other things).
You may only be interested in path for this question, but since
we're talking about exports and arrays, note that
arrays generally cannot be exported.
You can even prevent PATH from taking on duplicate entries
(refer to
this
and this):
typeset -U path
PATH pre-populated
The reason your path already has some entries in it is due to your system shell files setting path for you. This is covered in a couple other posts:
Why and where the $PATH env variable is set?
Where is the source of $PATH? I cannot find it in .zshrc
one liner, without opening ~/.zshrc file
echo -n 'export PATH=~/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.zshrc
or
echo -n 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.zshrc
To see the effect, do source ~/.zshrc in the same tab or open a new tab
Added path to ~/.zshrc
sudo vi ~/.zshrc
add new path
export PATH="$PATH:[NEW_DIRECTORY]/bin"
Update ~/.zshrc
Save ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
Check PATH
echo $PATH
OPTION 1: Add this line to ~/.zshrc:
export "PATH=$HOME/pear/bin:$PATH"
After that you need to run source ~/.zshrc in order your changes to take affect OR close this window and open a new one
OPTION 2: execute it inside the terminal console to add this path only to the current terminal window session. When you close the window/session, it will be lost.
If you are on macOS (I'm on Monterey 12.3.1), you may have been pulling your hair like I did metaphorically. These instructions above all worked for me within the terminal session, but I could never get it to persist no matter what I did with export. Moreover, I couldn't find the .zshrc anywhere.
Turns out Apple does it differently. The file you need to edit is etc/paths. You can simply sudo nano /etc/paths and add your path in a new line. Then simply restart terminal and voila.
for me PATH=$PATH:/path/to/file/bin
then export PATH worked.
to check echo $PATH . other solutions are adding the path temporarily.
I'm on Monterey 12.4 and the only way I could change the path was using the helper function. Editing text files in nano did diddly squat
# append
path+=('/foo/bar/yourpath')
# export to sub-processes
export PATH
to verify your new directory has been added correctly, you can use
print -l $path
thanks to the fact that its type is known to be an array
how to append new plugin to zshrc file. I tried the below syntax but it replaced with new one.
sed -i -e 's/plugins=(.*)/plugins=(zsh-syntax-highlighting)/' ~/.zshrc
I want to add git, file, docker etc.
pl give me the corrected syntax.
KSK
I am trying to refresh my aliases on my Mac (OS Catalina 10.15.6) after defining new aliases in my .bash_profile file with the command:
source ~/.bash_profile
But terminal keeps giving this error message:-bash: s: command not found
This is confusing because for the longest time this command worked. I even had it included in my .bash_profile file as an alias, where it worked fine.
I'm aware the problem could have to do it with an error in my PATH but I've never made any edits to my PATH so have no idea what the issue could be?
Thanks in advance.
My first instinct would be to check both ~/.bashrc, and /etc/bashrc if it exists. That is where I customarily define aliases, and it looks to me as though a bad alias may be your problem.
I'm not saying it was the one you made, although it might be. Just go through your rc and profile files and look for any aliases which might in any way clash with source.
I suspect the source command is working just fine and the problem is a bad line in the ~/.bash_profile itself that looks like it's trying to run a command named s. I would look in there for the problem.
It might help to run it with xtrace on via bash -x ~/.bash_profile – running it in a separate process like that won't have any of the presumably-desired side effects of sourceing it in your current shell, but you can see what it's trying to do so that you can fix it.
(You can also just set -x before the source and get both xtrace and running in the current shell; just be sure to set +x afterwards or your shell session will be full of debug output.)
I created a.bash_profile and defined
export PATH=/user/local/bin
rather than
export PATH=/user/local/bin:$PATH
Then, I ran
source ~/.bash_profile
Now none of the command, e.g., ls works. Is there a way to back out this change? Thank you.
If you have fixed your .bash_profile file, you just restart bash to get your $PATH back. If that's not an option, or you can't fix the file externally, you can do export PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin", which should give you enough to get to vi or some other text editor so you can fix your .bash_profile, then you can restart bash.
I have defined some aliases and function snippets int some of my profile files, say, ~/.zprofile. But Emacs never reads them. There is already a topic about it. However, it's not enough:
It cannot source completely .zshrc and would emit errors for
compinit and the like.
Seems this approach only works for environment VARIABLES.
So in shell-mode or run command in Emacs(Alt-!) the effect is still different with that in terminal(emulators).
So is there any way to deal with the problem? Thanks.
You can create a file ~/.emacs_zsh (or .emacs_bash, emacs_sh, ...) that shell-mode will use on startup. My .emacs_bash is simply:
. ~/.profile
Just be sure to put a newline at the end of the sourcing line or it won't get executed.
I have bash script within which some function are declared and I like to source it automatically when a new shell created so that I can use the functions immediately. Add a source ~/setsetup.sh in the ~/.bashrc seems do not work.
EDIT:
Both ~/.profile and ~/.bashrc works. I just have a stupid typo when source the script. Thanks!
If the new shell you create is a login shell, it will execute one of .bash_login, .bash_profile, or .profile (whichever it finds first) instead of .bashrc. Typically, you source .bashrc from one of the two bash specific ones if you use them. You should not put any bash-specific commands in .profile, as that file may be read by other non-bash shells. For example, if you decide to source your script from .profile, you should use the . setsetup.sh form, and make sure that nothing bash specific is in that script.
There are several files. The relevant one is likely ~/.profile for your case. It is often used to source .bashrc.
Check man .profile for details. When bash is started as login shell .profile is relevant, otherwise .bashrc.
What you are looking for is ~/.profile which should execute every time you create a new bash shell.