How to add path of a program to $PATH environment variable?

Question

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How to add a directory to my path?

I need to use a program in my job. I followed the installation instructions of this PROGRAM. However, when I try to run it the message appears - program_that_I_want_to_run:Command not found

I know that it is a $PATH problem, but I tried the command line described in the instructions and it did not work.

Set environment variable CONFIG_PATH

export CONFIG_PATH=/my_path_to_PROGRAM/PROGRAM/config/

I am sure that I indicated correctly the path to access the config directory. No typing errors.

Help?

Is it really necessary to obscificate your question ? It would be much easier to help you if you specified your program, how you installed it, and what the full path was. I am not sure if you need export CONFIG_PATH=/my_path_to_PROGRAM/PROGRAM/config/ as your error message is one of PATH and not necessarily configuration, hard to know from what little you posted. — Panther, Mar 02 '12 at 13:13

score 74 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 21 '18 at 08:44

74

Firstly, check your original path:

echo $PATH

It should show something like this:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

Now add your program to that path, ensuring your using the entire path all the way from / to your program.

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/my/program

This sets your PATH variable to the existing PATH plus what you add to the end. Check that it has been added (Caveat: it presist only in the current session of the terminal):

echo $PATH

edited Jun 21 '18 at 08:44

AsimRazaKhan

103

answered Mar 02 '12 at 14:51

Kilizo

929

14

Is this permanent? – chwi Nov 10 '12 at 12:17
3

no this is not permanent, as i closed the terminal, reopen it and type 'echo $PATH'.. it didn't show me my new path in it. – Farhan Dec 24 '13 at 09:50
8

If you want to make the change permanent, add this exact command to the end of ~/.bashrc – Alex Lomia Mar 29 '16 at 19:29
@AlexLomia: You are the king! – JAN Aug 02 '22 at 14:15

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 02 '12 at 13:10

23

Add this line to ~/.bashrc (you use PATH rather then CONFIG_PATH)

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to_directory_containing_program
export CONFIG_PATH=/my_path_to_PROGRAM/PROGRAM/config/

answered Mar 02 '12 at 13:10

Panther

102,067

6

Environment variables should be set in either ~/.pam_environment or ~/.profile, not ~/.bashrc. – geirha Mar 02 '12 at 14:45
7

documentation for persistent environment variables – galath May 30 '15 at 08:49
@galath- You do understand that this question is both a duplicate and over 3 years old ? The link you give is more recent then the original question. – Panther May 30 '15 at 15:08
5

I came to this page from google and appreciate galaths comment a lot. Thanks – offroff Jul 03 '15 at 09:40
How to use that all without leaving terminal? – Muhammad Yasirroni Jul 05 '22 at 07:17

How to add path of a program to $PATH environment variable?

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