Mac os add path variable

MacOS: Set / Change $PATH Variable Command

I need to add dev tools (such as JDK and friends) to my PATH. How do I change $PATH variable in OS X 10.8.x? Where does $PATH get set in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or latest version of macOS?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	No
Requirements	Apple macOS or OS X with Bash
Est. reading time	3 mintues

Here is what I see

Fig.01: Displaying the current $PATH settings using echo / printf on OS X

macOS (OS X): Change your PATH environment variable

You can add path to any one of the following method:

1. $HOME/.bash_profile file using export syntax.
2. /etc/paths.d directory.

Method #1: $HOME/.bash_profile file

The syntax is as follows:

In this example, add /usr/local/sbin/modemZapp/ directory to $PATH variable. Edit the file $HOME/.bash_profile , enter:
vi $HOME/.bash_profile
OR
vi

/.bash_profile
Append the following export command:

Save and close the file. To apply changes immedialty enter:
source $HOME/.bash_profile
OR
. $HOME/.bash_profile
Finally, verify your new path settings, enter:
echo $PATH
Sample outputs:

Method #2: /etc/paths.d directory

Apple recommends the path_helper tool to generate the PATH variable i.e. helper for constructing PATH environment variable. From the man page:

The path_helper utility reads the contents of the files in the directories /etc/paths.d and /etc/manpaths.d and appends their contents to the PATH and MANPATH environment variables respectively.

(The MANPATH environment variable will not be modified unless it is already set in the environment.)

Files in these directories should contain one path element per line.

Prior to reading these directories, default PATH and MANPATH values are obtained from the files /etc/paths and /etc/manpaths respectively.

To list existing path, enter:
ls -l /etc/paths.d/
Sample outputs:

You can use the cat command to see path settings in 40-XQuartz:
cat /etc/paths.d/40-XQuartz
Sample outputs:

To set /usr/local/sbin/modemZapp to $PATH, enter:

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OR use vi text editor as follows to create /etc/paths.d/zmodemapp file:
sudo vi /etc/paths.d/zmodemapp
and append the following text:

Save and close the file. You need to reboot the system. Alternatively, you can close and reopen the Terminal app to see new $PATH changes.

Conclusion

1. Use $HOME/.bash_profile file when you need to generate the PATH variable for a single user account.
2. Use /etc/paths.d/ directory via the path_helper tool to generate the PATH variable for all user accounts on the system. This method only works on OS X Leopard and higher.

See also:

• Customize the bash shell environments from the Linux shell scripting wiki.
• UNIX: Set Environment Variable
• Man pages – bash(1), path_helper(8)

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Comments on this entry are closed.

thank you for this.

to append multiple executables in one group, e.g ‘modemZapp2’:
sudo -s ‘echo “/usr/local/sbin/modemZapp2” >> /etc/paths.d/zmodemapp’

Thank you for your useful article! It helped me a lot!

I cannot get this to work. You write “Save and close the file”. How do I do this please?

The author does not explain this but the commands ‘vi’ in the terminal starts an editor called vim. According to the link below you can just type ‘:x’ (without the ‘) and then enter to save and close at the same time

I would like to be able to use gcc to compile a file.
I see gcc-4.0 and gcc-4.2 in /Developer/usr/bin/
echo “$PATH” gives me this:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/MacGPG2/bin:/usr/X11/bin
If I need to set the path also to /Developer/usr/bin/ where my gcc is (I mean I guess I have to do that, not even sure) I am kind of lost. I append this:
vi $HOME/.bash_profile
Then I see in he Terminal many line breaks with

in front, the cursor is before all these breaks and at the bottom I read “”

/.bash_profile” [New File]” (in my firs attempts it was written “INSERT”).
If I paste “export PATH=$PATH:/Developer/usr/bin” there, I don’t know how to go further. If I then paste “source $HOME/.bash_profile” after, I get a mess: I had to re-install xcode everytime I messed up with the Terminal which kept on scrolling and scrolling with error messages.

Actually as soon as I paste “export PATH=$PATH:/Developer/usr/bin”, he word “INSERT” comes up at the bottom replacing ”

/.bash_profile” [New File]”
So I guess from now on I should save my new bash_profile, bu I do not know how.

I got it to work. gcc never worked, but g++ did.
Now the ./a.out command form the script I want to create is not working. Nerverending story. FIle not found no matter where my source file is.

When I did echo “$PATH”, I got
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

In my .bash_profile file, I have put
PATH=”/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH”
export PATH

But, when ever I execute a command, I need to give the full path in the command. For example,
when I take update in SVN. The command should be “svn update” but in my case i need to give “/usr/local/bin/svn update”. It happens for me in every command.
FYI: I am using OS X Yosemite, 10.10.3

Is there anything I need to change in resolving this issue ? Thanks in advance.

The reason why this is happening is because you are not pointing your “$PATH” to a folder with ONLY Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64. In order to do this, please follow this tutorial: https://www.objc.io/issues/6-build-tools/mach-o-executables/. Long story short, to make for example an executable file from a C file “.c”, use the terminal tool xcrun with clang as an argument followed by the name of your “.c” file…This will look something like xcrun clang helloworld.c. This in turn will generate the desired “Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64”. The file will look something like: a.out (“The file is called ‘a’ because it is the default name if given no parameters for such”). Now you can take this “a.out” file and rename it to whatever you want your command to be when you are calling it from terminal. Now after renaming your file, put it in a folder where ONLY Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64 will be located and put this folder in your “$PATH” using any of the options listed in this article and finito!. Now you can call your file with the desired named from the terminal.

Conclusion : If you want additional values to your path for all users, you just have to create a new file in /etc/paths.d and put, on per line, additional paths that are required.

Conclusion : Specific roles taken up from time to time by users could need different environment settings. Ex – Dev role by the administrator could need the XAMP stack, and access to executing Apache, MySQL and PHP. Though Apache and PHP come built-in along with Yosemite, their bin directories are not set in the PATH variable.
Hence, we can have .bash_profile_dev in the HOME of the administrator, with all the PATH settings and command line conveniences for starting / stopping servers, etc as the need arises. This can be executed whenever the user needs to change their role, by running

Worked on my M1 MacBook Air too. Cheers mate.

Источник

Use environment variables in Terminal on Mac

The shell uses environment variables to store information, such as the name of the current user, the name of the host computer and the default paths to any commands. Environment variables are inherited by all commands executed in the shell’s context and some commands depend on environment variables.

You can create environment variables and use them to control the behaviour of a command without modifying the command itself. For example, you can use an environment variable to have a command print debug information to the console.

To set the value of an environment variable, use the appropriate shell command to associate a variable name with a value. For example, to set the variable PATH to the value /bin:/sbin:/user/bin:/user/sbin:/system/Library/ , you would enter the following command in a Terminal window:

To view all environment variables, enter:

When you launch an app from a shell, the app inherits much of the shell’s environment, including exported environment variables. This form of inheritance can be a useful way to configure the app dynamically. For example, your app can check for the presence (or value) of an environment variable and change its behaviour accordingly.

Different shells support different semantics for exporting environment variables. See your preferred shell’s man page.

Although child processes of a shell inherit the environment of that shell, shells are separate execution contexts that don’t share environment information with each other. Variables you set in one Terminal window aren’t set in other Terminal windows.

After you close a Terminal window, variables you set in that window are no longer available. If you want the value of a variable to persist across sessions and in all Terminal windows, you must set it in a shell startup script. For information about modifying your zsh shell startup script to keep variables and other settings across multiple sessions, see the “Invocation” section of the zsh man page.

Источник

Bash: Как в macOS добавить новую переменную $PATH?

Сегодня рассказываем вам как добавить новую переменную $PATH в операционной системе macOS (OS X).

Если вам надоело в «Терминале» macOS каждый раз вводить определенные команды через ./команда , тогда необходимо добавить переменную окружения. То есть вам необходимо вам необходимо внести путь полный к команде утилиты в файл .bash_profile .

Как узнать полный путь к команде?

Есть два варианта узнать полный путь, где находиться утилиты с соответствующей командой.

С помощью доп.меню

Сделайте «правый клик» по папке, где находится команда и при появлении контекстного меню нажмите кнопку ALT (OPTION) и «Скопируйте путь до».

С помощью терминала

Перетяните папку с командой в «Терминал» после чего вы сможете скопировать полный путь.

Как добавить переменную окружения в macOS?

Есть также 4 варианта — первый, это открытие файла .bash_profile с помощью Finder и внесение пути, второй и третий и четвертый с помощью терминала:

Добавить переменную в файл .bash_profile

Откройте ваш домашний каталог:

Редактируем .bash_profile :

Добавьте в файл такую запись:

Закройте текстовый файл, все готово!

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Источник