How to permanently set $PATH on Linux/Unix

On Linux, how can I add a directory to the $PATH so it remains persistent across different sessions?

Background

I'm trying to add a directory to my path so it will always be in my Linux path. I've tried:

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir

This works, however each time I exit the terminal and start a new terminal instance, this path is lost, and I need to run the export command again.

How can I do it so this will be set permanently?

You need to add it to your ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc file. 

export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/dir"

Depending on what you're doing, you also may want to symlink to binaries:

cd /usr/bin
sudo ln -s /path/to/binary binary-name

Note that this will not automatically update your path for the remainder of the session. To do this, you should run:

source ~/.profile 
or
source ~/.bashrc

There are multiple ways to do it. The actual solution depends on the purpose.

The variable values are usually stored in either a list of assignments or a shell script that is run at the start of the system or user session. In case of the shell script you must use a specific shell syntax and export or set commands.

System wide

1. /etc/environment List of unique assignments. Allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. Used by PAM and systemd.

2. /etc/environment.d/*.conf List of unique assignments. Allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. The configuration can be split into multiple files, usually one per each tool (Java, Go, and Node.js). Used by systemd that by design do not pass those values to user login shells.

3. /etc/xprofile Shell script executed while starting X Window System session. This is run for every user that logs into X Window System. It is a good choice for PATH entries that are valid for every user like /usr/local/something/bin. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell.

4. /etc/profile and /etc/profile.d/* Shell script. This is a good choice for shell-only systems. Those files are read only by shells in login mode.

5. /etc/<shell>.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used in non-login mode.

User session

1. ~/.pam_environment. List of unique assignments, no references allowed. Loaded by PAM at the start of every user session irrelevant if it is an X Window System session or shell. You cannot reference other variables including HOME or PATH so it has limited use. Used by PAM.

2. ~/.xprofile Shell script. This is executed when the user logs into X Window System system. The variables defined here are visible to every X application. Perfect choice for extending PATH with values such as ~/bin or ~/go/bin or defining user specific GOPATH or NPM_HOME. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell. Your graphical text editor or IDE started by shortcut will see those values.

3. ~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login Shell script. It will be visible only for programs started from terminal or terminal emulator. It is a good choice for shell-only systems. Used by shells in login mode.

4. ~/.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used by shells in non-login mode.

Notes

GNOME on Wayland starts a user login shell to get the environment. It effectively uses the login shell configurations ~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login files.

Man pages

• environment
• environment.d https://linux.die.net/man/1/environment.d
• bash
• dash

Distribution-specific documentation

• Ubuntu
• Arch Linux

Related

Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell?

In Ubuntu, edit /etc/environment. Its sole purpose is to store environment variables. Originally the $PATH variable is defined here.

This is a paste from my /etc/environment file:

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games"

So you can just open up this file as root and add whatever you want.

For immediate results,

Run (try as normal user and root):

source /etc/environment && export PATH

If you use Z shell (zsh), add this line right after the comments in /etc/zsh/zshenv file:

source /etc/environment

I encountered this little quirk on Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf), but if your zsh is not getting the correct PATH, this could be why.

For Bash, you can put the export declaration in ~/.bashrc. For example, my .bashrc contains this line:

export PATH=/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin:/home/ash/.bin:$PATH

You may set $PATH permanently in two ways.

1. To set the path for a particular user:

   You may need to make the entry in file .bash_profile in the home directory for the user.

   E.g, in my case I will set the java path in the Tomcat user profile*

    echo "export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir" >> /home/tomcat/.bash_profile
   

2. To set a common path for all system users, you may need to set the path like this:

    echo "export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir" >> /etc/profile
   

You can use on CentOS or Red Hat Linux (RHEL) for the local user:

echo $"export PATH=\$PATH:$(pwd)" >> ~/.bash_profile

This adds the current directory (or you can use another directory) to the PATH. This makes it permanent, but it takes effect at the next user logon.

If you don't want do a re-logon, then you can use:

source ~/.bash_profile

That reloads the # User specific environment and startup programs. This comment is present in file .bash_profile.

You can also set it permanently, editing one of these files:

/etc/profile (for all users)

~/.bash_profile (for current user)

~/.bash_login (for current user)

~/.profile (for current user)

You can also use /etc/environment to set a permanent PATH environment variable, but it does not support variable expansion.

Extracted from: Linux: Añadir ruta al PATH

I think the most elegant way is:

1. Add this in the ~/.bashrc file.

   Run this command:

    gedit ~/.bashrc
   

   Add your path inside it:

    export PATH=$PATH:/opt/node/bin
   

2. source ~/.bashrc

(Ubuntu)

1. Modify the "/etc/profile" file:

   vi /etc/profile
   

   Press the I key to enter editing mode and move the cursor to the end of the file. Additional entries：

   export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir;
   

   Press the Esc key to exit edit mode, and :wq to save the file.

2. Make the configuration effective

   source /etc/profile
   

   Explanation：

   The profile file works for all users. If you want it to be valid only for the active user, change the ".bashrc" file.

I stumbled across this question yesterday when searching for a way to add a folder containing my own scripts to the PATH - and was surprised to find out that my own ~/.profile file (on Linux Mint 18.1) already contained this:

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

Thus, all I had to do was create the folder ~/bin and put my scripts there.

You can add that line to your console configuration files (e.g., .bashrc, or to .profile).

It can be directly added by using the following command:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

After so much research, I found a simple solution for this (I am using Elementary OS), inspired by Flutter – Step by Step Installation on Linux – Ubuntu.

> Run the following command to open the .bashrc file in edit mode. (You > may also use vi or any other editor). > > ~$ sudo nano ~/.bashrc > > Add the following line at the end of the file and save. > > export PATH="[FLUTTER_SDK_PATH]/flutter/bin:$PATH" > > For example: > > export PATH="/home/rageshl/dev/flutter/bin:$PATH" > >

I believe this is the permanent solution for setting the path in Flutter in a Ubuntu distribution.

Add script file [name_of_script].sh to the /etc/profile.d folder with the line:

export PATH=$PATH:/dir

Every script within the /etc/profile.d folder is automatically executed by /etc/profile on login.

One way to add a permanent path, which worked for me, is:

cd /etc/profile.d
touch custom.sh
vi custom.sh 
export PATH=$PATH:/path according to your setting/

Restart your computer and here we go; the path will be there permanently.

My answer is in reference to the setting up of a Go environment on Ubuntu Linux (amd64). I have faced the same trouble of setting the path of environment variables (GOPATH and GOBIN), losing it on terminal exit and rebuilding it using the source <file_name> every time.

The mistake was to put the path (GOPATH and GOBIN) in ~/.bash_profile file. After wasting a few good hours, I found that the solution was to put GOPATH and GOBIN in the ~/.bash_rc file in the manner:

export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH:$GOBIN

And in doing so, the Go installation worked fine and there were no path losses.

The reason with which this issue can be related is that settings for non-login shells, like your Ubuntu terminal or GNOME terminal where we run the Go code, are taken from the ~./bash_rc file and the settings for login shells are taken from ~/.bash_profile file. And from the ~/.profile file if the ~/.bash_profile file is unreachable.

The files where you add the export command depends on if you are in login-mode or non-login-mode.

If you are in login-mode, the files you are looking for are either /etc/bash or /etc/bash.bashrc.

If you are in non-login-mode, you are looking for the file /.profile or for the files within the directory /.profiles.d

The files mentioned above is where the system variables are.

Permanently add to the PATH variable

Global:

echo "export PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable" >> /etc/profile

Local (for the current user only):

echo "export PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable" >> ~/.profile

For global, restart. For local, relogin.

Example

Before:

$ cat /etc/profile

#!/bin/sh

export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin

After:

$ cat /etc/profile

#!/bin/sh

export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/new/path/variable

Alternatively you can just edit file "profile":

$ cat /etc/profile

#!/bin/sh

export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/new/path/variable

Another way (thanks gniourf_gniourf):

echo 'PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable' >> /etc/profile

> You shouldn't use double quotes here! echo 'export > PATH=$PATH:/new/path/variable'... And by the way, the export keyword > is very likely useless as the PATH variable is very likely already > marked as exported. – gniourf_gniourf

Zues77 has the right idea. The OP didn't say "How can I hack my way through this?". The OP wanted to know how to permanently append to $PATH:

sudo nano /etc/profile

This is where it is set for everything and is the best place to change it for all things needing $PATH.

Let's say you're running macOS. You have a binary you trust and would like to make available across your system, but don't necessarily want the directory in which the binary is to be added to your PATH.

You can opt to copy/move the binary to /usr/local/bin, which should already be in your PATH. This will make the binary executable like any other binary you may already have access to in your terminal.

The simplest way is the following line,

PATH="<directory you want to include>:$PATH"

in your .bashrc file in the home directory.

It will not get reset even if you close the terminal or reboot your PC. It's permanent.

I think the most elegant way is:

1. Add this in the ~./bashrc file:

   if [ -d "new-path" ]; then
     PATH=$PATH:new-path
   fi
   

2. source *~/.bashrc*

(Ubuntu)

This is a one-liner. It adds a line to the .bashrc. That line is going to check if the directory has already been added to the path and append if not. This will prevent duplicating your directory in the path every time you source .bashrc.

echo "[[ \":\$PATH:\" != *\":$(pwd)/path/to/add:\"* ]] && export PATH=\"\${PATH:+\${PATH}}:$(pwd)/path/to/add\"" >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

For a Debian distribution, you have to:

• edit file ~/.bashrc. E.g: vim ~/.bashrc

• add export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir

• then restart your computer. Be aware that if you edit file ~/.bashrc as root, your environment variable you added will work only for root