[Techtalk] Getting Newbie on the right $PATH

[Emily Sporl]

Hi,

You can try http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3768 (part II of
a Linux Journal series), which is interesting, but perhaps not quite
dummified enough...?   In which case, perhaps this:
http://www.linux-mag.com/2001-06/newbies_01.html Or, if you do a Google
search for "linux + PATH + environment + variable" you should be able to
turn up some goodies.

Basically, your PATH is simply a listing of directories that linux will
search in to find executable files (commands, binaries, etc.).  If you
have a command that *isn't* listed in your PATH environment variable,
then you'll have to type the entire directory structure to execute that
command.  

You can manually set your PATH variable (in Bash) by typing:

 PATH="type/paths/here:separated/by/colons:"
 export $PATH

However, this is a temporary fix until you reboot.  So, you'll want to
make sure that the previous PATH settings that you wrote above are
initialized someplace that will be read upon every reboot for a user.
Typically, you can put those lines in your .bash_profile file (redhat 9)
or .bashrc.

Emily

-----Original Message-----
From: Raena Lea-Shannon [mailto:raen7 at ihug.com.au] 
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 9:36 AM
To: techtalk at linuxchix.org
Subject: [Techtalk] Getting Newbie on the right $PATH


Can anyone point me to a good resource/reference to go to for a Dummies 
explanation of Paths how they work, what they can do and how to properly
set 
them up in .profile or .bashrc.

Many thanks
-- 
Raena Lea-Shannon _______________________________________________
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