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nex3/path.md

Created March 16, 2018 00:45
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path.md

The PATH is an important concept when working on the command line. It's a list of directories that tell your operating system where to look for programs, so that you can just write script instead of /home/me/bin/script or C:\Users\Me\bin\script. But different operating systems have different ways to add a new directory to it:

Windows

  1. The first step depends which version of Windows you're using:
  • If you're using Windows 8 or 10, press the Windows key, then search for and select "System (Control Panel)".
  • If you're using Windows 7, right click the "Computer" icon on the desktop and click "Properties".
  1. Click "Advanced system settings".
  2. Click "Environment Variables".
  3. Under "System Variables", find the PATH variable, select it, and click "Edit". If there is no PATH variable, click "New".
  4. Add your directory to the beginning of the variable value followed by ; (a semicolon). For example, if the value was C:\Windows\System32, change it to C:\Users\Me\bin;C:\Windows\System32.
  5. Click "OK".
  6. Restart your terminal.

Mac OS X

  1. Open the .bash_profile file in your home directory (for example, /Users/your-user-name/.bash_profile) in a text editor.
  2. Add export PATH="your-dir:$PATH" to the last line of the file, where your-dir is the directory you want to add.
  3. Save the .bash_profile file.
  4. Restart your terminal.

Linux

  1. Open the .bashrc file in your home directory (for example, /home/your-user-name/.bashrc) in a text editor.
  2. Add export PATH="your-dir:$PATH" to the last line of the file, where your-dir is the directory you want to add.
  3. Save the .bashrc file.
  4. Restart your terminal.
@byteknight
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byteknight commented Feb 26, 2022 •
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RapidEE is an outstanding alternative to the Windows built-in control panel dialog box for environment variable management and viewing, including the PATH variable, of course. For those who like text walls, read on! xP

BTW, thanks nex3. Cool tips!

TL;DR Version:

Although it's not necessary in the slightest, and for the standard non-hacker end-user probably smacks of overkill, if you are like me in meeting the following two criteria:

  • A. Are forced to use Windows due to its popularity or your own masochistic tendencies; and furthermore
  • B. Make use of environment variables (esp. PATH) fairly often, like most developers,

then you should find in RapidEE a beautiful tool to replace the tiny control panel dialog box. The native Windows method is fine for simple, "one-off" changes to PATH or a different variable, for a more comprehensive, "bird's eye" view of both system and user variables and the ability to add/delete or modify them—all quickly and easily, without the confusion the regular dialog can entail—the handy, small program called Rapid Environment Editor (or RapidEE) is more than sufficient. Although it's closed-source (afaik), it's free, up-to-date and even supports operations on variables via command-line arguments.

I'm fully aware there are other apps that fill the same need, many of them FOSS, but when I use Windows RapidEE has served me very well, and its features continue to save me many headaches from confusion, tedium and their ilk. Anyway, happy hacking, guys, and thanks again nex3!

@ricky900
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i tried for lunarvim and its not working
export PATH="$PATH: ~/.local/bin/"

@fatherofphysics
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i tried for lunarvim and its not working export PATH="$PATH: ~/.local/bin/"

use this export PATH="your-dir:$PATH"

@linconl-cmd
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In my experience , used : export PATH=/.cargo/bin:/.local/bin:$PATH In file .bashrc appended last line
ps. DIST. ARCH

@mauriciocoruja
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Still helpful. tks

@Chirpingdusty
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for those using fish on macOS,

  1. go to /Users/account-name/.config/fish

  2. open config.fish and paste the following line inside the file

export PATH="/Users/account-name/.local/bin:$PATH"

@billnice250
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billnice250 commented May 8, 2022 •
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Sometimes, I noticed modifying the .bashrc file doesn't work instead,
Adding the new PATH in .zshrc file (which is the default shell for MacOs) works for me.
add a new line in the file $HOME/.zshrc:

#for example
export PATH="your-bin-dir:$PATH"

then run
source $HOME/.zshrc

to reflesh the file

@mra-ruiz
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mra-ruiz commented Aug 25, 2022 •
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For those using Z-Shell (zsh) don't forget it's .zshrc instead of .bash_profile

Thank you!! This worked for me too

@azadpsg
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azadpsg commented Jan 2, 2023 •
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for fish terminal users use this

fish_add_path export '/home/$USER/.local/bin'

@Thesecondbestname
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for fish terminal users use this

fish_add_path export '/home/$USER/.local/bin'

Ok but how does this work? I'm not on my computer rn so I can't check, I am very new and have never seen a fish config file. Could you please explain how this works? Especially because I've seen the path to lunarvim in every other solution.

@aristotelesbr
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aristotelesbr commented Feb 21, 2023 •
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Create an alias and happy coding.
In ~/.config/fish/config.fish add:

alias lvim="~/.local/bin/lvim"

But, to use correctly export from fish use:

fish_add_path -m ~/.local/bin

@oxido-std
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Thank you. I'm new in linux and thats was driving me crazy.

@XEROGAMINN13
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termux: cp .local/bin/lvim ../usr/bin/

@tinyBrained
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Hi i am very new to this, so the issues i have right now is, my college has blocked settings and control panel all together and so i am not able to flutter sdk to path using this method, is there anyother way i could add it to path?

@tim-247
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tim-247 commented Oct 20, 2023

On linux/macos can you use ~ in your PATH variable or do you have to use the full path to your home folder?

@jaimeleo8821
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Thanks, I can also edit the /etc/profile to add directory to $PATH and make it permanently.

@dwayneheasley
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worked perfectly, many thanks
@getaway shootout

@ShengzheXu
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For those using Z-Shell (zsh) don't forget it's .zshrc instead of .bash_profile

Hero! Thanks.

@correiamath
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correiamath commented Feb 3, 2024 •
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SUMMARY

(For who came from LunarVim doc)

Step 1: Open your .bashrc file

Use a text editor of your choice to open the .bashrc file. In this example, I'll use the nano editor:

nano /home/your-user-name/.bashrc

Step 2: Add the directory to the PATH

In the opened .bashrc file, go to the last line and add the following:

export PATH=/home/your-user-name/.local/bin:$PATH

Step 3: Save and exit

After adding the line to the file, save your changes by pressing Ctrl + O, then press Enter. To exit the editor, press Ctrl + X.

Now, the specified directory is added to your PATH. This means that executable programs in the specified directory can be executed from any location in the terminal without needing to provide the full path.

@DeepakM-HnH
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added soanr scanner path in system environment variable "C:\sonar-scanner\bin" and trying to access this path from cicd workflow but it never finding.
Run echo "C:\sonar-scanner\bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
echo "C:\sonar-scanner\bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH

pls let me know after adding path in enviroment varibale how to get path in workflow.

@likoser12
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Create an alias and happy coding.
In ~/.config/whatsapp/config.bluewhatsapp add:

alias lvim="~/.local/bin/lvim"
But, to use correctly Bluewhatsapp use:

whatsapp_add_path -m ~/.local/bin

@MelanieS
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MelanieS commented Mar 18, 2025 •
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If you're in Windows 10 or 11, how to add to your path: https://youtu.be/rWVaxSWvxUQ

@pk36game
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Create an alias and happy coding.
In ~/.config/whatsapp/config.bluewhatsapp add:

alias lvim="~/.local/bin/lvim"
But, to use correctly hollowknight use:

whatsapp_add_path -m ~/.local/bin

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