How do I add a location to my path in Unix?

Question

I am using a default installation of FreeBSD, with the C shell (csh).

Suppose I have a command I can run by executing this: /sbin/abc, but cannot run by executing abc. How can I set certain path or something that make abc runnable everywhere?

what shell do you use? setting your path is done slightly differently in bash, csh, sh, tcsh, etc. You can generally run `echo $SHELL` to find out which shell you're using. — Tim, Dec 22 '10 at 07:08
By the way, for `zsh` syntax, see [*Adding a new entry to the PATH variable in ZSH*](https://stackoverflow.com/q/11530090/642706) — Basil Bourque, Jul 25 '19 at 18:35

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 22 '10 at 07:13

16

Aha, FreeBSD. That's tcsh, I believe.

So:

set path=(/sbin $path)

answered Dec 22 '10 at 07:13

DigitalRoss

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score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 25 '19 at 23:32

7

bash & zsh syntax:

export PATH=${PATH}:/sbin

sh syntax (two separate commands):

PATH=${PATH}:/sbin
export PATH

csh and tcsh:

~~setenv PATH "${PATH}:/sbin"~~
set path=($path /sbin)

This will append /sbin to your path, so when you type abc, the shell will also look in /sbin for it. You can also add the command to your ~/.bashrc file (or ~/.cshrc, ~/.tcshrc, ~/.profile, ~/.login—depending on which shell you use).

edited Jul 25 '19 at 23:32

Basil Bourque

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answered Dec 22 '10 at 07:05

Tim

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I got "export command not found" I am using Freebsd 8.1 – Dec 22 '10 at 07:08
Let me know which shell you're using, and I'll update the syntax. – Tim Dec 22 '10 at 07:09
I have no idea which shell I am using. It's default FreeBSD, i didn't change anything... – Dec 22 '10 at 07:11
2

type `echo $SHELL` to find out which shell you're using, and run the appropriate commands (I'm guessing tcsh/csh since you don't have `export`). I've updated this answer with syntax for all three. – Tim Dec 22 '10 at 07:12
/bin/csh [ word padding...................] – Dec 22 '10 at 07:15
This will work but csh and tcsh were intended to use the native wordlist variables and then PATH is generated automatically. Since the `setenv` command will *only* DTRT with PATH, it would be better for a tcsh user to learn the syntax that will work with all of his variables. The command he *should* be using is in my answer below. – DigitalRoss Dec 22 '10 at 07:20
@DigitalRoss, I forgot about that quirk of csh -- I mostly used bash. Anyway, I updated the post. @Andy, if `abc` is something you use a lot, you may want to put the command into your `~/.tcshrc` file, so you don't have to type it everytime you log in. – Tim Dec 22 '10 at 07:34

How do I add a location to my path in Unix?

2 Answers2