How do you see where your PATH is set?

Question

I have some duplicates in my PATH I need to remove, however I don't know where they're coming from. I'm on Ubuntu 10.04 with bash, and have checked ~/.bashcr (there's no ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile).

Is there any command that can show the files that add to or set PATH? And more generally, is there a command that can show where any environment variable is being set?

Accepted Answer

4

try:

echo $env

this should let you know where your environment is being set for your individual user.

however there are global path sets as well, the usual suspects are:

/etc/profile
/etc/profile.d/*
/etc/bashrc
/etc/bash.bashrc
/etc/environment

You can grep through them below:

grep -HP "^\s*(export)*\s*PATH=" /etc/profile.d/*
grep -HP "^\s*(export)*\s*PATH=" /etc/profile
grep -HP "^\s*(export)*\s*PATH=" /etc/bash*
grep -HP "^\s*(export)*\s*PATH=" /etc/environment

The above assume you are using bash.

ksh is below:

grep -HP "^\s*(export)*\s*PATH=" /etc/ksh.kshrc

link

answered 10 Aug '10, 21:12

rfelsburg ♦
606●1●6●18
accept rate: 25%

Thanks! Your greps found it. Though 'echo $env' returns a blank line. Should something be in $env?

(11 Aug '10, 04:38) Kurtosis

1

Not sure with ubuntu, on redhat based systems it returns the file that your environment loads.

In may case it returns /home/$USER/.bashrc

(11 Aug '10, 12:27) rfelsburg ♦

Answer 2

0	and, if you want to know where does the library load, then you should change file /etc/ld.so.conf , add your new library path here... link answered 17 Aug '10, 11:49 twwwater 1 accept rate: 0%

Answer 3

0	$PATH will show what is in your PATH For me it shows: bash: /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib/surfraw:/usr/lib/surfraw: Running Debian sid. link answered 12 Aug '10, 01:42 craigevil 116●2 accept rate: 6%

Answer 4

0	Try the command "printenv". While it doesn't show where things are set, it shows what is set and often helps to pinpoint where the duplications arise. You can get further details from: man printenv Good Luck. link answered 11 Aug '10, 15:01 DBA 226●4 accept rate: 23%

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How do you see where your PATH is set?

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