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I recently messed up my .bashrc file, which I mentioned in this question: How do I restore .bashrc to its default?, and I can't find a way to restore .bashrc to its default that works.

I can't make commands in the terminal because every time I try I receive an error message along the lines of

The command could not be located because '/usr/bin' is not included in the PATH >environment variable.

On other questions I have seen that some recommendations for this problem involve using default files in /etc/skel/ (Problem in .bashrc ).

This won't work for me, as I looked in /etc/skel/, and realized that I have practically no files at all in there! I don't know why this is.

Also, solutions that involve using the terminal don't seem to work because every time I use the terminal I get the above-mentioned error message.

I'd be really appreciative if anybody could help me solve this problem. I'm somewhat new to Ubuntu, and I'm having difficulties with this issue.

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nanananana
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  • Note -- I realized that the files in /etc/skel/ were hidden; I used ctrl + h and they are actually there. I copied the original .bashrc file to my home directory. However, the problem in the terminal still persists. – nanananana Jan 14 '14 at 14:31
  • You will need to log out and back in or execute source ~/.bashrc in the terminal – steeldriver Jan 14 '14 at 14:35

2 Answers2

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Usually .bashrc file on /etc/skel/ was hidden.Press ctrl+h to see the hidden .bashrc file.

Avinash Raj
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Most of the default files in /etc/skel are hidden ('dot') files, so to see them in the GUI file manager you will need to Show hidden files from the menu or use the Ctrl+h key combination.

To see them in a terminal you will need to use ls -a or ls -A i.e.

ls /etc/skel
examples.desktop

but

$ ls -A /etc/skel
.bash_logout  .bashrc  examples.desktop  .profile  .Xdefaults  .xscreensaver

Until you have fixed your path you will need to use the full path to each command e.g. /bin/ls, /bin/cp e.g.

/bin/cp ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc_old
/bin/cp /etc/skel/.bashrc ~/

For the new .bashrc file to take effect, you will need to start a new shell or log out and back in - or you can source the new file in the shell using

source ~/.bashrc
steeldriver
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