How to add a directory to my path?

Question

How do I add a directory to my $PATH in Ubuntu and make the changes permanent?

Answer 1

A path set in .bash_profile will only be set in a bash login shell (bash -l). If you put your path in .profile it will be available to your complete desktop session. That means even metacity will use it.

For example ~/.profile:

if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
  PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"
fi

Btw, you can check the PATH variable of a process by looking at its environment in /proc/[pid]/environ. (replace [pid] with the number from ps axf)

Answer 2

.bashrc is not the right place for setting environment variables. They should go in .profile or .pam_environment See comment below.

Edit .bashrc in your home directory and add the following line:

export PATH=/path/to/dir:$PATH

You will need to source your .bashrc or logout/login (or restart the terminal) for the changes to take effect.

To source your .bashrc, simply type

$ source .bashrc

when in the home directory.

Answer 3

I think the better way in idealogy of Ubuntu is:

• create new file under /etc/profile.d/

  sudo vi /etc/profile.d/SCRIPT_NAME.sh
  

• add there:

  export PATH=YOUR_PATH_WITHOUT_TRAILING_SLASH:$PATH
  

• and give right on executable

  sudo chmod a+x /etc/profile.d/SCRIPT_NAME.sh
  

Answer 4

For complete newbies (like I am) who are more comfortable with GUI:

1. Open your HOME folder
2. Go to View > Show Hidden Files or press Ctrl + H
3. Right click on .profile and click on Open With Text Editor
4. Scroll to the bottom and add PATH="$PATH:/my/path/foo"
5. Save
6. Log out and log back in to apply changes (let Ubuntu actually load .profile)

Answer 5

Put that line in your ~/.bashrc file.

It gets sourced whenever you open a terminal

EDIT: Based on the comments below, for a more general setting that will apply to all shells (including when you hit Alt-F2 in Unity), add the line to your ~/.profile file. Probably shouldn't do both however, as the path will be added twice to your PATH environment if you open a terminal.

Answer 6

The recommended place to define permanent, system-wide environment variables applying to all users is in:

/etc/environment

(which is where the default PATH is defined)

This will work in desktop or console, gnome-terminal or TTY, rain or shine ;)

• To edit, press Alt+F2 and type:

  gksudo gedit /etc/environment
  

  (or open the file using sudo in your favorite text editor)

Related: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables

Answer 7

To set it system wide, append the line export PATH=/path/you're/adding:$PATH to the end of /etc/profile.

To add the directory for only the logged-in user, append the same line to ~/.bash_profile.

Answer 8

Adding it to .bashrc will work but I think the more traditional way of setting up your path variables is in .bash_profile by adding the following lines.

PATH=$PATH:/my/path/foo
export PATH

According to this thread it appears as though Ubuntu's behavior is slightly different than RedHat and clones.

Answer 9

Environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) should be set into:

~/.pam_environment # This file is specifically meant for setting a user's environment. 

It is not a script file, but rather consists of assignment expressions, one per line.

PATH DEFAULT=${PATH}:~/MyPrograms

Note: Using .pam_environment requires a re-login in order to initialize the variables. Restarting just the terminal is not sufficient to be able to use the variables.

source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables#Session-wide_environment_variables

Answer 10

For persistent environment variables available to particular users only. I highly recommend Ubuntu official documentation.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables

Referring to documentation above, I have setup my Android SDK path-tools by:

1. creating ~/.pam_environment file in home directory.
2. the content of which is PATH DEFAULT=${PATH}:~/android-sdk-linux/tools.
3. additional custom user path can be added by separating paths with colon (:).
4. this requires re-login, which means you need to log-out and log-in back to desktop environment.

Answer 11

sudo vi /etc/profile.d/SCRIPT_NAME.sh

add there

export PATH=YOUR_PATH_WITHOUT_TRAILING_SLASH:$PATH

Answer 12

Whenever I "install" my folder of BASH scripts, I follow the pattern of the test for a $HOME/bin folder that's in most .profile files in recent versions of Ubuntu. I set a test that looks like

if [ -d "/usr/scripts" ]; then
   PATH="/usr/scripts:$PATH"
fi

It works just about 100% of the time, and leaves me free to change it in a GUI text editor with a quick "Replace all" should I ever decide to move /scripts somewhere closer to my $HOME folder. I haven't done so in 6 Ubuntu installs, but there's "always tomorrow." S

BZT

Answer 13

In terminal, cd to the_directory_you_want_to_add_in_the_path

echo "export PATH=$(pwd):\${PATH}" >> ~/.bashrc

This wasn't my idea. I found this way to export path at this blog here.

Answer 14

For Ubuntu edit the ~/.bashrc and add the following line.

. ~/.bash_profile

Then edit your .bash_profile as you need.....

Answer 15

Open your terminal, type gedit .profile and insert the following:

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"
fi

 #the following line add Bin where you dont have a Bin folder on your $HOME
    PATH="$PATH:/home/mongo/Documents/mongodb-linux-i686-2.2.2/bin"

Close and open terminal, it should be working.

Answer 16

Put it to your ~/.bashrc or whatevershell you use rc (or to beforementioned ~/.profile) AND ~/.xsessionrc so it will also work in X (outside shell).