I want to edit $PATH directly - how?

[kitepilot at kitepilot.com]

> Is there a way to edit $PATH ?
I believe you are asking the wrong question, because you also state (one of) 
the right answer(s). 

You "edit $PATH" (as you say) by:
PATH=$PATH:/something/else
That only "edits PATH" on your current shell.
($PATH is just a shell variable private to a shell) 

There is is not a "global" $PATH... 

You "make the change stick", by editing .bashrc, which gets sourced every 
time you start a login shell. 

So far so good, you answered your own question, now:
> and I'll wait till a reboot
There are many "creative" ways to accomplish this, all of them more 
complicated than just editing your .bashrc, opening up a new login shell 
that will "see" the change (your current shell is unchanged), test the 
change, and possible reverse the changes.
A "reboot" is totally unnecessary, once .bashrc is changed, any subsequent 
launched process will "see" the change, and conversely, those already 
running will be oblivious to it. 

You could possibly create a script in .bash_logout that detects a file, 
automagically edits .bashrc, bla, bla, bla, sounds to me like one of those 
machines like:
http://www.urlesque.com/2010/08/19/useless-machines/ 

Get the drift?   :)
ET 

 

 

leegold at speedymail.org writes: 

> Is there a way to edit $PATH ? I am using Ubuntu. I do not want anything
> like: 
> 
> export PATH=...additional paths..:$PATH 
> 
> in  .bashrc, that's just causing me problems.  
> 
> I simply want to edit the path directly and I'll wait till a reboot to
> have it stick. If there's no\ way to do this then how do I reset the
> path to nothing and start over? The bashrc this is this additive thing
> and just confuses me. 
> 
> Thanks
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