TCSH / CSH Shell Set PATH Variable

Print current PATH settings in C SHELL

Open the terminal and type the following command to print the current $PATH settings. You can use any one of the following command:

# use echo to display it ##
echo "$PATH"

OR

## or use printenv
printenv PATH

Sample outputs:

/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/local/sbin/modemZapp:/Users/vivek/gcutil-1.8.4

The character between each directory in the C shell’s the PATH environment variable has colons. You can also use the following $path variable:

## note lower case ##
echo "$path"
## OR ##
printf "%s\n" $path

Sample outputs:

/usr/bin /bin /usr/sbin /sbin /usr/local/bin /opt/X11/bin /usr/local/sbin/modemZapp /Users/vivek/gcutil-1.8.4

The character between each directory in the C shell’s $path variable is a space. The C shell search path includes /usr/bin, /bin, /usr/sbin, and rest of the all directories displayed by the echo command.

Method #1: CSH / TCSH set path variable command for interactive use

You can add a directory called /usr/local/bin and $HOME/bin to to the search path by entering the following command:

### *** NOTE: $path is case sensitivity and must be in lowercase *** ###
set path = ($path /usr/local/bin)
echo $path

Sample outputs:

/usr/bin /bin /usr/sbin /sbin /usr/local/bin /opt/X11/bin /usr/local/sbin/modemZapp /Users/vivek/gcutil-1.8.4 /usr/local/bin

All directories are searched in the order they appear in the search path. Setting paths with $path variable is recommended for all your shell commands that you type directly. You can add second path using the same syntax:

### *** NOTE: $path is case sensitivity and must be in lowercase *** ###
set path = ($path /usr/local/bin $HOME/bin)
echo $path

Sample outputs:

/usr/bin /bin /usr/sbin /sbin /usr/local/bin /opt/X11/bin /usr/local/sbin/modemZapp /Users/vivek/gcutil-1.8.4 /usr/local/bin /Users/vivek/bin

Method #2: Csh/Tcsh add to $PATH

You can use the following syntax:

## please note 'PATH' is CASE sensitivity and must be in UPPERCASE ##
setenv PATH $PATH\:/dir/path1
setenv PATH $PATH\:/dir/path1\:/dir/path2

Please feel free to replace /dir/path1 with the directory you want the shell to search. If you skip \ before :, you will get an error message that read as follows:

Bad : modifier in $ (/).

How do I set path in tcsh/csh automatically on Unix/Linux?

You may want to set search path automatically each time you log in by appending any one of the following command in ~/.login or ~/.cshrc file (you need to type the command at shell prompt):

## command to append path settings in ~/.login file ##
echo 'set path = ($path /usr/local/bin $HOME/bin .)' >> ~/.login

OR

## command to append path settings in ~/.cshrc file ##
echo 'setenv PATH $PATH\:/usr/local/bin\:$HOME/bin\:.'  >> ~/.cshrc

See csh(1) and tcsh(1) man page for more information.