How to permanently set PATH on Linux Unix

Question

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

User · Answer

Put the export declaration in    bashrc  My  bashrc contains this   export PATH  var lib gems 1 8 bin  home fraxtil  bin  PATH

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You can add that line to your console config file  e g   bashrc    or to  profile

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It can be directly added by using the following command   echo  export PATH  PATH  new directory   gt  gt     zshrc source    zshrc

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Let s say you re running MacOS and 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

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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  NodeJS   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  lt shell gt   lt shell gt 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      lt shell gt  profile      lt shell gt  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      lt shell gt 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 user login shell to get the environment  It effectively uses login shell configurations    profile      lt shell gt  profile      lt shell gt  login files   Manuals   environment environment d bash dash   Distribution specific documentation   Ubuntu archlinux   Related  Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell

User · Answer

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  amp  amp  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

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You can also set 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  http   www sysadmit com 2016 06 linux-anadir-ruta-al-path html

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You need to add it to your    profile or    bashrc file  nbsp   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

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My answer is in reference to the setting-up of go-lang 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  lt file name gt  every time The mistake was to put the path  GOPATH and GOBIN  in    bash profile folder  After wasting a few good hours  I found that the solution was to put GOPATH and GOBIN in    bash rc file in the manner   export GOPATH  HOME go export GOBIN  GOPATH bin export PATH  PATH  GOPATH  GOBIN   and doing so  the go installation worked fine and there were no path losses    EDIT 1  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    bash rc file and the settings for login shells are taken from    bash profile file  and from    profile file if    bash profile file is unreachable

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1 modify   etc profile  file    vi  etc profile   Press  i  key to enter editing status and move cursor to the end of the file Additional entries   export PATH  PATH  path to dir    Press  Esc  key exit edit status   wq  save the file   2 Make configuration effective  source  etc profile   Explain   profile file works for all users if you want to be valid only for the active user  set the   bashrc  file

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For debian distribution  you have to   edit    bashrc e g  vim    bashrc add export PATH  PATH  path to dir then restart your computer  Be aware that if you edit    bashrc as root  your environment variable you added will work only for root

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After so much research  I found a simple solution for this   I am using elementary OS   inspired by the following link      Run the following command to open  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 path in flutter in Ubuntu distro  Hope this will helpful

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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

User · Answer

the best simple way is the following line  PATH   lt directory you want to include gt   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

User · Answer

One way to add 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  path will be there permanently

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

Add to  etc profile d folder script  name of script  sh with line  export PATH  PATH  dir  Every script within  etc profile d folder is automaticaly executed by  etc profile on login

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You may set  PATH permanently in 2 ways    To set path for particular user   You may need to make the entry in  bash profile in home directory in the user   e g in my case I will set java path in tomcat user profile   tomcat   echo  export PATH  PATH  path to dir   gt  gt   home tomcat  bash profile  To set common path for ALL system users  you may need to set path like this     root    echo  export PATH  PATH  path to dir   gt  gt   etc profile

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I think the most elegant way is   1 add this in    bashrc file    Run this command     gedit    bashrc   add your path inside it      export PATH  PATH  opt node bin   2 source    bashrc   Ubuntu

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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

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This is a one-liner  It adds a line to the  bashrc  Tha 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         amp  amp  export PATH      PATH     PATH     pwd  path to add     gt  gt     bashrc  source    bashrc

User · Answer

I think the most elegant way is   1 add this in    bashrc file  if   -d  new-path     then   PATH  PATH new-path fi   2 source    bashrc   Ubuntu

User · Answer

You can use on Centos or RHEL for local user   echo   export PATH   PATH   pwd    gt  gt     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

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Permanently add PATH variable  Global   echo  export PATH  PATH  new path variable   gt  gt   etc profile   Local for user only    echo  export PATH  PATH  new path variable   gt  gt     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 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   gt  gt   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

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

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