Im trying to install Apache Ant and it says i have do type this in Konsole:
export ANT_HOME=/usr/local/ant
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jdk-1.2.2
export PATH=${PATH}:${ANT_HOME}/bin

Once i do this i can type: "ant" and the program will work. However when i close Konsole and open it up again it cant find command "ant". It appears what i have typed wasnt saved. I tried editing the .bash_profile but am unsure of the format that the above commands need to be written. Can someone tell me how to save added path and variables permanently into bash?

Put those lines into your .bashrc file in your home. They will then be executed everytime your start a new bash shell.

Your ~/.bash_login or ~/.profile scripts would be a better place.
The line "export PATH=${PATH}:${ANT_HOME}/bin" would add ${ANT_HOME}/bin to your path whenever you started a new subshell. The ~/.bash_login is sourced once when you login.

See the "info bash" section 6.2 (bash startup files).

*
-for all users: (interactive login)
/etc/profile

Note:
Others distros too use scripts on folder: /etc/profile.d (Red Hat/Fedora)
I don't know Mandriva.


-for all users: (non-interactive login)
/etc/bashrc (or /etc/bash.bashrc)



*
-for specific user on login: (interactive login)
~/.bash_login (others names: .bash_profile, .profile)

-for specific user on logout: (interactive login)
~/.bash_logout

-for specifc user on login: (non-interactive login)
~/.bashrc

Good luck!