How do I edit my path?

Echo Kilo · 12-11-2004, 09:08 PM

How would I edit my path to add or remove certain folders to my path?

kevinalm · 12-11-2004, 10:37 PM

If you want to change the path (I presume you mean the path search for executables) for a normal user then there are usually files in the home dir of that user you can edit /home/username/.bashrc and /home/usernalme/.bash_profile. Look for a line something like this:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin
you just add to it like this:
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/path/to/newdirectory

For root look for the files in /root

For system wide settings look in /etc , but the names of the files and location vary by distro. Try /etc/profile and /etc/bashrc

Echo Kilo · 12-12-2004, 12:47 PM

Yep, I somehow messed up my roots path, but none of that was in the root directory.

kevinalm · 12-12-2004, 01:50 PM

Well, if there are no bash configuration files in the home directory (/root for root or /home/username for a user) then it is supposed to use the system defaults. Maybe the files in /etc have been altered but for normal users it gets overridden by the /home/username files. One other thing, you do know that files that begin with a . are hidden? ls -a to see them.