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Where should I put my script in my home directory so that I can access it from any directory?

I've tried:

o@s:~/$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

But it seems there is no /home/user/ path. The thing is that I'd like only my user to have access to it so putting it in another directory than my home folder is not an option. Should I add something like /home/user/scripts/ to my PATH variable? If so, what's the recommended way to do it... Should I put it in my ~/.bashrc?

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1 Answer

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I add PATH=/home/djeikyb/bin:$PATH to my .bashrc, and keep all my scripts in ~/bin.

I think $PATH has greater-smaller::left-right precedence, so I put my personal bin folder first. I use a folder called "bin" because all the other program files are in folders called bin. And I even have a couple actual binaries in mine ;p

Don't forget to reload your bashrc to make changes take effect: $. ~/.bashrc

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Works perfectly. I did PATH=~/bin:$PATH though, a bit cleaner ;) – Olivier Lalonde Feb 10 '11 at 0:58
1  
The default ~/.profile already adds ~/bin to PATH, though only if ~/bin exists when you log in. And yes, it is read left to right when looking for a command. The first command by the name it is looking for, that it finds, gets executed. – geirha Feb 10 '11 at 8:04
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You don't have to hardcode your username, the following works too: PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" – papukaija Jun 24 '11 at 13:00

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