Display or print UNIX / Linux path ~ $PATH variable
Q. How do I print current path settings under BASH shell? I’m using Debian Linux.
A. In UNIX / Linux file systems, the human-readable address of a resource is defined by PATH. On Unix / Linux like operating systems, (as well as on DOS / Windows and its descendants), PATH is an environment variable listing a set of paths to directories where executables may be found.
Display current PATH
Use echo command:
$ echo $PATH
Output:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
Modify current PATH
Use export command to add /opt/games to PATH, enter:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/games
To format your PATH variable for easy viewing, add following code to your bash startup file (such as ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile) :
function path(){
old=$IFS
IFS=:
printf "%s\n" $PATH
IFS=$old
}
(Function credit: usenet archive)
Now just run path:
$ path
Output:
/usr/local/sbin /usr/local/bin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /sbin /bin /usr/bin/X11 /usr/games
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Tags: bash_shell, echo_command, environment_variable, export_command, export_path, linux_file_systems, path_settings, printf_command
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