Backup, first.
Before attempting to resolve this, people are worried about $PATH changes breaking things. Backup your path with echo $PATH > $HOME/bak/conf/path.bak and remember (don't put any raw files into the bak dir). Confirm your backup with cat $HOME/bak/conf/path.bak.
A minimal $PATH!
My desired path is /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.
This is a minimalist path that should break nothing on most default Linux installs (Backup, first).
I have a huge $PATH that is completely useless (like 120 lines of $PATH--caused by WSL [more later]). So far, I only know how to add to path and remove single directories from $PATH via seg.
Sounds like it should pop right up on search engines. I have a headache in my eye--:
how do I set $PATH to a raw string or purge it so I can append from null?.
Bonus points for anyone who can tell me how to set $PATH from the contents of a file!?
Best guess:
import sys, sys.path.insert(0, '/your/path')--!NO This did not work!
Temporary workaround:
You can move the path to a neutral file (or use whatever means you know) and replace / with / and then use sed to cut the unwanted part out:
PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/tons:\/of:\/unwanted:\/garbage$//')
Make sure you put everything you don't want between s/ and $//').
Where is this long $PATH coming from?
Related question: How to remove the Win10's PATH from WSL --$PATH is inherited every time you re-launch or perform some other actions such as possibly changing users or environments.
Why is this question different:
As if there isn't enough typing, S.O. has a nuisance dialog that asks me to write and explain why purging $PATH is different from removing one directory/path from $PATH.
Because a punch in the face isn't a kick in the butt.
If I'm understanding your question, you simply want to know how to set your Bash PATH to a fixed string (or erase it completely) and have it persist across restarts of the shell?
If so, then I'll start off by saying that this isn't recommended as it will break other things. If not now, then later.
But if you really want to set the PATH to a fixed value every time Bash starts ...
Short answer first:
Assuming fairly "default" startup files (where ~/.profile sources ~/.bashrc):
Edit your ~/.profile (or ~/.bash_profile in the rare case it exists) and add:
# Remove entirely
unset PATH
export -n PATH
# Optionally
export PATH=/new/pathItem1:/new/path/Item2
Adding this to the bottom of the file should override any other PATH modifications done previously. However, future application installations can make modifications below that, therefore overriding it.
In a very rare case where you have an interactive Bash session that isn't startup by a login shell, you could also make the same modifications to ~/.bashrc.
(Not necessarily required if the modification is the last thing called during startup, but) make sure that there are no other PATH adjustments in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile.
More explanation:
Where is this long $PATH coming from?
Your path in Bash in WSL can potentially come from a few sources:
WSL's init process sets a default PATH for the starting application (shell). This is currently (in WSL 0.70.8):
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/wsl/lib
Since this is done before your ~/.profile runs, there's no need to worry about disabling it.
As you've pointed out, WSL automatically appends the Windows path to the Linux path so that you can launch Windows executables. This can be disabled using the method in the question you linked, but it's not necessary if you simply want to override the entire PATH. Setting the PATH in your ~/.profile comes after WSL sets it for the initial process (your shell).
Bash itself has a built-in, default path that is hardcoded into it for "fallback" in case no other path is passed in. This rarely ever takes effect. Most Linux systems are going to set the PATH through some other mechanism, meaning the fallback never gets activated. A typical Linux system will set the default PATH via /etc/environment, but this isn't used under WSL since the init mechanism mentioned above is needed instead.
If using Systemd or another init system in WSL, then Bash (and other POSIX shells) will process /etc/profile and files in /etc/profile.d when starting. These files may contain PATH modifications. Again, since these come before your ~/.profile, (re)setting the PATH to a fixed value will override any of these settings.
Finally, your ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile (for login shells) and ~/.bashrc (for interactive shells are read. Typically, PATH modifications in these files look something like:
export PATH="/new/path/item:$PATH"
This prepends to the path, making that new item take priority over the previous items.
However, leaving out the existing :$PATH part will simply set it to a string literal.
It should be obvious, but if you do this without including the "normal" OS paths, you will be unable to call any command that isn't built in to Bash already with specifying its fully qualified path. For instance, ls will fail. Note that you can still:
$ ls
ls: command not found
$ /usr/bin/ls
# works
Also note that ~/.profile is called for login shells. It is possible, however, to tell WSL to launch Bash without reading ~/.profile:
wsl ~ -e bash --noprofile
The resulting shell will still have the default WSL path in this case.
It is possible to view shorter path in my terminal (VS Code & Hyper) with WSL (Ubuntu). On top of the Ubuntu, I have installed zsh. Currently, I am using a git bash and path looks Lukas#Y50-70 ~/Coding but with the Ubuntu, I have something like this lukas#Y50-70 /mnt/c/Users/Lukas/Coding. When I have a project in another 2 folders or so and I have a long branch name it is annoying to have a full row unnecessary info (for me).
Here is a comparison of Ubuntu and git bash:
Thanks
I was able to solve this using Named Directories - by adding this line to your ~/.zshrc file
hash -d c=/mnt/c
you will see '~c/' in your prompt rather than '/mnt/c/' which I think is a lot nicer.
This has a similar effect to setting an alias for the directory but the name is reflected in how your path is displayed.
As an added bonus you can then switch to that directory at any time by typing ~c
Check if the zsh installation guide under WSL can help (from neurogenesis):
Install zsh with sudo apt-get install zsh
bash.exe is the entrypoint to the WSL / linux subsystem. You'll have to modify the windows shortcut to specify bash -c --login or modify ~/.bashrc with exec /bin/zsh to properly load a different shell.
/etc/passwd isn't consulted because it's not a full login process. Be sure to set your SHELL env var as well. See #846 for details.
Fix your umask before you start installing things, otherwise tools like zsh will complain.
Specifically, "group" and "other" permissions will have the same privileges that owner do. This causes zsh's compaudit and compinit to fail (both are related to command completion).
See #352 for details. umask 022 can be added to your ~/.bashrc.
NOTE: This should be done before trying to install zsh plugin managers like antigen (otherwise the directory/file permissions issues from git clones).
You should also do this before installing RVM or rbenv.
I ended up inserting a few lines to the top of my ~/.bashrc, something like the following:
# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)
# for examples
## Fix missing umask value
umask 022
## Launch Zsh
if [ -t 1 ]; then
cd $HOME
export SHELL=/bin/zsh
exec -cl $SHELL
fi
Issue 846 (mentioned in point 2) includes the comment:
A normal -c zsh symlink opened up in the wrong directory to me, but I managed using this (note the tilde):
C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe ~ -c /bin/zsh
See also "How to Use Zsh (or Another Shell) in Windows 10".
I know this isn't exactly the fix you were hoping for. I was looking to solve the same issue. The prompt was just too long and it was causing some of my commands to wrap to the next line. After seeing the comments on VonC's answer, I'm deciding to keep my next-best solution.
What I did in my ~/.bashrc file is this:
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u#\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\n\$ '
else
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u#\h:\w\n\$ '
fi
I added a \n right before the \$
So when I'm at my Windows home folder, it looks like this
ryan#DESKTOP-RSKAA4F:/mnt/c/Users/ryank
$
And I start typing my commands after the $. It takes up more vertical space, but at least I don't have to maximize my terminal window just to avoid text wrap.
It appears to me that just running 'cd' after starting the terminal session, re-bases the prompt to the normal '/home/(user)'
there should be no need for installing zsh or anything else. It works for me anyway.
also when starting the session at the root folder from windows, seems to do the trick.
I keep my sessions under
C:\vms
sample:
cd -d C:\vms\minikube\ubu_jenkinsX\rootfs
C:\vms\minikube\ubu_jenkinsX\rootfs>wsl -d ubu_jenkinsX
Yours may be under your userprofile in local data. Search for the rootfs folder
The reason your WSL prompt shows such a long path is because you're not actually in your home directory. You see, WSL has its own virtual filesystem separate from Windows, and Windows paths (like your C:\Users\Lukas\...) are stored under /mnt/c/Users/Lukas/.... Your WSL home directory would be /home/Lukas (since your WSL username is capitalized), but of course, that's not where your project is.
The fish shell has a prompt_pwd function that shortens a path to something like this:
0 ---- /m/c/U/L/Documents cd Something
0 ---- /m/c/U/L/D/Something prompt_pwd
/m/c/U/L/D/Something
Is that something you're interested in? You could port the function to Bash, or just switch to Fish, or just display the current directory name instead of path.
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On Linux, how can I add a directory to the $PATH so it remains persistent across different sessions?
Background
I'm trying to add a directory to my path so it will always be in my Linux path. I've tried:
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir
This works, however each time I exit the terminal and start a new terminal instance, this path is lost, and I need to run the export command again.
How can I do it so this will be set permanently?
You need to add it to your ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc file.
export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/dir"
Depending on what you're doing, you also may want to symlink to binaries:
cd /usr/bin
sudo ln -s /path/to/binary binary-name
Note that this will not automatically update your path for the remainder of the session. To do this, you should run:
source ~/.profile
or
source ~/.bashrc
There are multiple ways to do it. The actual solution depends on the purpose.
The variable values are usually stored in either a list of assignments or a shell script that is run at the start of the system or user session. In case of the shell script you must use a specific shell syntax and export or set commands.
System wide
/etc/environment List of unique assignments. Allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. Used by PAM and systemd.
/etc/environment.d/*.conf List of unique assignments. Allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. The configuration can be split into multiple files, usually one per each tool (Java, Go, and Node.js). Used by systemd that by design do not pass those values to user login shells.
/etc/xprofile Shell script executed while starting X Window System session. This is run for every user that logs into X Window System. It is a good choice for PATH entries that are valid for every user like /usr/local/something/bin. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell.
/etc/profile and /etc/profile.d/* Shell script. This is a good choice for shell-only systems. Those files are read only by shells in login mode.
/etc/<shell>.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used in non-login mode.
User session
~/.pam_environment. List of unique assignments, no references allowed. Loaded by PAM at the start of every user session irrelevant if it is an X Window System session or shell. You cannot reference other variables including HOME or PATH so it has limited use. Used by PAM.
~/.xprofile Shell script. This is executed when the user logs into X Window System system. The variables defined here are visible to every X application. Perfect choice for extending PATH with values such as ~/bin or ~/go/bin or defining user specific GOPATH or NPM_HOME. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell. Your graphical text editor or IDE started by shortcut will see those values.
~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login Shell script. It will be visible only for programs started from terminal or terminal emulator. It is a good choice for shell-only systems. Used by shells in login mode.
~/.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used by shells in non-login mode.
Notes
GNOME on Wayland starts a user login shell to get the environment. It effectively uses the login shell configurations ~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login files.
Man pages
environment
environment.d https://linux.die.net/man/1/environment.d
bash
dash
Distribution-specific documentation
Ubuntu
Arch Linux
Related
Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell?
In Ubuntu, edit /etc/environment. Its sole purpose is to store environment variables. Originally the $PATH variable is defined here.
This is a paste from my /etc/environment file:
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games"
So you can just open up this file as root and add whatever you want.
For immediate results,
Run (try as normal user and root):
source /etc/environment && export PATH
If you use Z shell (zsh), add this line right after the comments in /etc/zsh/zshenv file:
source /etc/environment
I encountered this little quirk on Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf), but if your zsh is not getting the correct PATH, this could be why.
For Bash, you can put the export declaration in ~/.bashrc. For example, my .bashrc contains this line:
export PATH=/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin:/home/ash/.bin:$PATH
You may set $PATH permanently in two ways.
To set the path for a particular user:
You may need to make the entry in file .bash_profile in the home directory for the user.
E.g, in my case I will set the java path in the Tomcat user profile*
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir" >> /home/tomcat/.bash_profile
To set a common path for all system users, you may need to set the path like this:
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir" >> /etc/profile
You can use on CentOS or Red Hat Linux (RHEL) for the local user:
echo $"export PATH=\$PATH:$(pwd)" >> ~/.bash_profile
This adds the current directory (or you can use another directory) to the PATH. This makes it permanent, but it takes effect at the next user logon.
If you don't want do a re-logon, then you can use:
source ~/.bash_profile
That reloads the # User specific environment and startup programs. This comment is present in file .bash_profile.
You can also set it permanently, editing one of these files:
/etc/profile (for all users)
~/.bash_profile (for current user)
~/.bash_login (for current user)
~/.profile (for current user)
You can also use /etc/environment to set a permanent PATH environment variable, but it does not support variable expansion.
Extracted from: Linux: Añadir ruta al PATH
I think the most elegant way is:
Add this in the ~/.bashrc file.
Run this command:
gedit ~/.bashrc
Add your path inside it:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/node/bin
source ~/.bashrc
(Ubuntu)
Modify the "/etc/profile" file:
vi /etc/profile
Press the I key to enter editing mode and move the cursor to the end of the file. Additional entries：
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir;
Press the Esc key to exit edit mode, and :wq to save the file.
Make the configuration effective
source /etc/profile
Explanation：
The profile file works for all users. If you want it to be valid only for the active user, change the ".bashrc" file.
I stumbled across this question yesterday when searching for a way to add a folder containing my own scripts to the PATH - and was surprised to find out that my own ~/.profile file (on Linux Mint 18.1) already contained this:
# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
Thus, all I had to do was create the folder ~/bin and put my scripts there.
You can add that line to your console configuration files (e.g., .bashrc, or to .profile).
After so much research, I found a simple solution for this (I am using Elementary OS), inspired by Flutter – Step by Step Installation on Linux – Ubuntu.
Run the following command to open the .bashrc file in edit mode. (You
may also use vi or any other editor).
~$ sudo nano ~/.bashrc
Add the following line at the end of the file and save.
export PATH="[FLUTTER_SDK_PATH]/flutter/bin:$PATH"
For example:
export PATH="/home/rageshl/dev/flutter/bin:$PATH"
I believe this is the permanent solution for setting the path in Flutter in a Ubuntu distribution.
It can be directly added by using the following command:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
One way to add a permanent path, which worked for me, is:
cd /etc/profile.d
touch custom.sh
vi custom.sh
export PATH=$PATH:/path according to your setting/
Restart your computer and here we go; the path will be there permanently.
Add script file [name_of_script].sh to the /etc/profile.d folder with the line:
export PATH=$PATH:/dir
Every script within the /etc/profile.d folder is automatically executed by /etc/profile on login.
My answer is in reference to the setting up of a Go environment on Ubuntu Linux (amd64). I have faced the same trouble of setting the path of environment variables (GOPATH and GOBIN), losing it on terminal exit and rebuilding it using the source <file_name> every time.
The mistake was to put the path (GOPATH and GOBIN) in ~/.bash_profile file. After wasting a few good hours, I found that the solution was to put GOPATH and GOBIN in the ~/.bash_rc file in the manner:
export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH:$GOBIN
And in doing so, the Go installation worked fine and there were no path losses.
The reason with which this issue can be related is that settings for non-login shells, like your Ubuntu terminal or GNOME terminal where we run the Go code, are taken from the ~./bash_rc file and the settings for login shells are taken from ~/.bash_profile file. And from the ~/.profile file if the ~/.bash_profile file is unreachable.
The files where you add the export command depends on if you are in login-mode or non-login-mode.
If you are in login-mode, the files you are looking for are either /etc/bash or /etc/bash.bashrc.
If you are in non-login-mode, you are looking for the file /.profile or for the files within the directory /.profiles.d
The files mentioned above is where the system variables are.
Permanently add to the PATH variable
Global:
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable" >> /etc/profile
Local (for the current user only):
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable" >> ~/.profile
For global, restart. For local, relogin.
Example
Before:
$ cat /etc/profile
#!/bin/sh
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin
After:
$ cat /etc/profile
#!/bin/sh
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/new/path/variable
Alternatively you can just edit file "profile":
$ cat /etc/profile
#!/bin/sh
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/new/path/variable
Another way (thanks gniourf_gniourf):
echo 'PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable' >> /etc/profile
You shouldn't use double quotes here! echo 'export
PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable'... And by the way, the export keyword
is very likely useless as the PATH variable is very likely already
marked as exported. – gniourf_gniourf
Zues77 has the right idea. The OP didn't say "How can I hack my way through this?". The OP wanted to know how to permanently append to $PATH:
sudo nano /etc/profile
This is where it is set for everything and is the best place to change it for all things needing $PATH.
Let's say you're running macOS. You have a binary you trust and would like to make available across your system, but don't necessarily want the directory in which the binary is to be added to your PATH.
You can opt to copy/move the binary to /usr/local/bin, which should already be in your PATH. This will make the binary executable like any other binary you may already have access to in your terminal.
The simplest way is the following line,
PATH="<directory you want to include>:$PATH"
in your .bashrc file in the home directory.
It will not get reset even if you close the terminal or reboot your PC. It's permanent.
This is a one-liner. It adds a line to the .bashrc. That line is going to check if the directory has already been added to the path and append if not. This will prevent duplicating your directory in the path every time you source .bashrc.
echo "[[ \":\$PATH:\" != *\":$(pwd)/path/to/add:\"* ]] && export PATH=\"\${PATH:+\${PATH}}:$(pwd)/path/to/add\"" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
I think the most elegant way is:
Add this in the ~./bashrc file:
if [ -d "new-path" ]; then
PATH=$PATH:new-path
fi
source *~/.bashrc*
(Ubuntu)
For a Debian distribution, you have to:
edit file ~/.bashrc. E.g: vim ~/.bashrc
add export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir
then restart your computer. Be aware that if you edit file ~/.bashrc as root, your environment variable you added will work only for root
I have installed a program that did not automatically put its binaries into usr/local/bin for me. This means that "command not found" errors happen very often whenever I run scripts in that program. I can fix this by copy-pasting the binaries into the usr/local/bin directory, but I don't want to do this every single time, for every single binary. What would be a more efficient way to make the scripts work?
Thank you very much in advance!
Executables are simply resolved via the $PATH variable. It's set to something like
PATH="/bin:/usr/local/bin:..."
(Try $ echo $PATH.)
When you enter a command:
$ foo
each path will be tried in turn and the first matching executable will be executed.
/bin/foo
/usr/local/bin/foo
To execute something outside the default path, simply enter the whole path to the executable:
$ /home/me/bin/foo
$ cd /home/me/bin
$ ./foo
If you find that you need to do that often and want the shortcut, alter your path:
export PATH="$PATH:/home/me/bin"
(Put this in your shell startup script like ~/.profile to automate that.)
Alternatively, symlink the executable to somewhere in your path:
$ ln -s /home/me/bin/foo /usr/local/bin/foo
Add the directory containing the binary to your $PATH environment variable by editing ~/.bash_profile:
export PATH=$PATH:/your/new/path
You can also edit /etc/paths or add a file to /etc/paths.d, but you need to have admin privilege to do that.
I installed GIT from the site on my mac, but git --version gave me the old installation (I guess xcode installation). So I solved doing this:
create a ~/.bash_profile file
write:
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
restart the terminal
Though, I think there's something in my configuration I could better setup.
My current echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/git/bin
So IT WORKS, but it's quite a mess, since I've got 2
/usr/local/bin AND an /usr/local/git/bin
Also, I cannot understand WHY now it works, since /usr/local/bin only contains bbedit commands:
bbdiff
bbedit
bbfind
I do not know very well all the path-config files and the real order they are read. I only know a few unix commands..
My current files in ~/ are:
~/.profile:
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ];
then
source ~/.bashrc
fi
~/bashrc:
. ~/bin/dotfiles/bashrc
then in . ~/bin/dotfiles/bashrc
. ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/env
. ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/config
. ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/aliases
and in . ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/env:
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
. ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/config is just empty
and . ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/aliases contains some alias commad.
Anyway, it SHOULD have read ~/bin/dotfiles/bash/env, but it doesn't. Or it reads it only after /etc/paths
~/.bash_profile is read first instead.
My current /etc/paths content:
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin
/usr/local/bin
Can anyone explain me the these mechanics? :P Or Maybe I should post this question to some Unix group?
When you type any command on a *NIX shell, the shell tries to resolve that command using the $PATH. Say your path is /usr/bin:/usr/local/bin, then this happens:
$ foo
- Does /usr/bin/foo exist? No.
- Does /usr/local/bin/foo exist? No.
- Does foo exist in the current working directory?
In other words, it looks at each $PATH element in turn and tries to find the executable you asked for there. This is the reason the typical configure-make-make install procedure starts with a ./configure, to make explicit that you want to run the configure executable in the current directory, not some system-wide command.
To figure out which foo it's actually choosing in the end, run:
$ which foo
You can run any command explicitly by providing its full path:
$ /usr/local/bin/foo # overrides /usr/bin/foo, should it exist
The export PATH=...:$PATH directive in your initialization scripts is simply prepending certain paths to your path, allowing you to override the precedence in which order commands are resolved. It's not ideal that /usr/local/bin is in there twice, but it's not really a problem either. You should take care not to let your path grow too long, since that may result in a lot of lookups for every command and may screw with your head, too.
See this for a comprehensive walkthrough of bash config files' loading order.