Everything You Need to Know about $PATH in Bash
# Where do Bash look for commands?
$
echo
$PATH
# /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
# Where is sudo came from?
$
which
sudo
# /usr/bin/sudo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prepending and Appending to $Path
$ PATH=
$PATH
:/
some
/dir
# Append - Correct
$ PATH=
/
root
:
$PATH
# Prepend - Not preferred
• Because of the possible injection of evil script, use absolute (full) path in script files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where is the original $PATH came from?
less
/
etc
/
profile
less
/
etc
/
profile.d
/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Customizing $PATH in ~/.bash_profile (for a single user
)
# Add inside ~/.bash_profile
PATH
=
$PATH
:/
$HOME
/
bin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interactive Login Shells (except root)
# Insert code just before "export PATH" in /etc/profile
PATH
=
$PATH
:
$HOME
/
bin
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