How to permanently set $PATH on Linux/Unix? [closed]

Answer 1

You can use on Centos or RHEL for local user:

echo $"export PATH=\$PATH:$(pwd)" >> ~/.bash_profile

This add the current directory(or you can use other directory) to the PATH, this make it permanent but take effect at the next user logon.

If you don't want do a re-logon, then can use:

source ~/.bash_profile

That reload the # User specific environment and startup programs this comment is present in .bash_profile

Answer 2

Zues77 has the right idea. The OP didn't say "how can i hack my way through this". 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

Answer 3

the files where you add the export command depends if you are in login-mode or non-login-mode.

if you are in login-mode, the files you are looking for is 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 if where the system variables are.

Answer 4

Put the export declaration in ~/.bashrc. My .bashrc contains this:

export PATH=/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin:/home/fraxtil/.bin:$PATH

Answer 5

the best simple way is the following line:
PATH="<directory you want to include>:$PATH"
in your .bashrc file in home directory.
It will not get reset even if you close the terminal or reboot your PC. Its permanent

Answer 6

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

UPDATE:

If you use zsh (a.k.a Z Shell), add this line right after the comments in /etc/zsh/zshenv:

source /etc/environment

I encountered this little quirk on Ubuntu 15.10, but if your zsh is not getting the correct PATH, this could be why