I am trying to make a command for the terminal. I have a bash script prepared (la.sh) and I want to just be able to type la to run it. How am I able to get the code so that I can just type la?
I have tried putting it in the /bin folder however had no luck.
What can I do to fix this?
I am using the latest version of Manjaro Gnome.
Thanks a lot!!!
BTW, the script was literally just ls.
It was just a practice script.
Lets consider that your script is stored under /some/path/la.sh. In my opinion, you have several solutions to accomplish your goal:
Option 1:
Add the script to your user's path so you can directly call it.
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/some/path/" >> ~/.bashrc
Then you will be able to use in your terminal:
$ la.sh
Using this option you can call la.sh with any parameters if needed. If the requirement is to call simply la you can also rename the script or create a softlink:
mv /some/path/la.sh /some/path/la
or
ln -s /some/path/la.sh /some/path/la
Option 2:
Create an alias for the script.
echo "alias la='/some/path/la.sh'" >> ~.bashrc
Then you will be able to use in your terminal:
$ la
However, using this option you will not be able to pass arguments to your script (executing something similar to la param1 param2) unless you define a more complex alias (an alias using a function in the .bashrc, but I think this is out of the scope of the question).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember to reload the environment in your terminal (source .bashrc) or to close and open again the terminal EVERY TIME you make modifications to the .bashrc file. Otherwise, you will not be able to see any changes.
The file la.sh must be placed in your path. Then you can create an alias for it.
alias la="la.sh"
If you want to have a command be available under two different names (la.sh and la in your case), I recommend against using an alias: An alias defined in your .bashrc is only available in an interactive bash; If you run, say, a non-bash interactive shell, or writing a bash script, you can't use it.
The IMO most general way is to create a link. Since you said that you have already placed la.sh into bin, you can create the link in the same directory, i.e.
ln /bin/la /bin/la.sh # creates a hard link
or
ln -s /bin/la /bin/la.sh # creates a symbolic link
In your case, either one is fine. If you want to find out more about the differences between hard and symbolic link, look for instance here.
It worked with a mixture of everybody's answers.
All I had to do was go into the directory that la.sh was in.
Rename it to just la as a text file.
Run chmod 777 la to turn it into executable to anybody.
Add it to my path by using the command export PATH=$PATH:~/Directory/It/Was/In/
Thank you to all who contributed.
My original .bashrc script is currently used to run model runs. Now I need to manipulate it to compile a completely new model.
My question is, if I save my original .bashrc, as something such as .bwwbashrc, do I need to manipulate the file in some way so it is able to be read or recognized as the .bashrc when I source it within my scripts?
original sourcing
source /home/tsee/.bashrc
What I think the new sourcing would be.
(after creating .bwwbashrc)
source /home/tsee/.bwwbashrc
Just not sure if I need to save it with a certain extension or edit the executable in some sort of way.
Nope, you can name it whatever you want. Executable bit isn't required either.
If you aren't aware of it, the bash --login option might be of interest to you.
To complement Matt’s correct answer, I’d also point out that you can start a new Bash shell that sources your alternative file instead of .bashrc at start-up.
bash --rcfile .bwwbashrc
From the bash man page:
--rcfile file
Execute commands from file instead of the standard personal initialization
file ~/.bashrc if the shell is interactive (see INVOCATION below).
If you want to replace your current shell (with commands and settings from .bashrc), you can run
exec bash --rcfile .bwwbashrc
I was going over this article and it states in step 3
Add the following to your .bashrc (or the appropriate startup file for your shell) To use it immediately, be sure to type “source .bashrc”
Any idea on how I could know what my startup file is ? I am using putty ?
Once you use putty to SSH into your server, you can run "ls -al .bashrc" and it should show you the file, edit this with an editor you know, if none, then use vi like this "vi .bashrc".
Go to where you need to edit the file and type in "i" to put vi in Insert mode. Next type in your text. Once you are done press the escape button and ":wq", no quotes for the i or :wq.
Next you can source it by typing "source .bashrc" and the setting you added should be part of your BASH shell environment now.
The .bashrc is a file which is called by bash before on each start of a new interactive shell. The file can be used to setup the environment, export variables, create aliases and functions and more...
There are usually multiple instances of that file. One per system and one per user to allow system wide configuration but also customization by users ( users bashrc will be sourced after the system wide bashrc and can overwrite things). I suggest to add the lines to your user's bashrc first. The file is located in your home folder. Type:
vi $HOME/.bashrc
in order to edit the file. If you aren't familiar with the vi editor you can choose an editor of your choice like nano, mcedit or even a GUI text editor, but mind that a GUI editor's file dialog may hide the file because it's name starts with a .
Once you managed to edit the file, start a new connection or simply type
source $HOME/.bashrc
in order to parse the file
A path which will work with any bash shell regardless of operating system (macOS/Linux/BSD etc.) is:
~/.bashrc
check your home directory ...because it exists in user's home directory.
check /home/username/ on your terminal if you are using RHEL or CentOS.
.bashrc and .bash_profile are bash config files (bash shell script) that bash runs(execute) whenever it is started interactively. It initializes an interactive (non-login) shell session and the config is read from these files $HOME/.bashrc
.bashrc is a standard hidden file located in your home directory.It determines the behaviour of interactive shells.
.bashrc runs on every interactive shell launch.If you say: $bash
For login shells, the config is read from these files:
/etc/profile (always sourced)
$HOME/.bash_profile (the rest of these files are checked in order until one is found,then no other are read)
$HOME/.bash_login
$HOME/.profile
For example: I added an echo to my .bashrc and .bash_profile files and whenever I called bash or bash -l command in terminal it showed me the echo.
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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
/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.
/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.
/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.
/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.
/etc/<shell>.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used in non-login mode.
User session
~/.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.
~/.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.
~/.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.
~/.<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 $PATH permanently in two ways.
To set the path for a particular user:
You may need to make the entry in file .bash_profile in the home directory for the user.
E.g, in my case I will set the java path in the Tomcat user profile*
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir" >> /home/tomcat/.bash_profile
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:
Add this in the ~/.bashrc file.
Run this command:
gedit ~/.bashrc
Add your path inside it:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/node/bin
source ~/.bashrc
(Ubuntu)
Modify the "/etc/profile" file:
vi /etc/profile
Press the I key to enter editing mode and move the cursor to the end of the file. Additional entries：
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/dir;
Press the Esc key to exit edit mode, and :wq to save the file.
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:$PATH"
fi
Thus, all I had to do was create the folder ~/bin and put my scripts there.
You can add that line to your console configuration files (e.g., .bashrc, or to .profile).
After so much research, I found a simple solution for this (I am using Elementary OS), inspired by Flutter – Step by Step Installation on Linux – Ubuntu.
Run the following command to open the .bashrc file in edit mode. (You
may also use vi or any other editor).
~$ 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.
It can be directly added by using the following command:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
One way to add a permanent path, which worked for me, is:
cd /etc/profile.d
touch custom.sh
vi custom.sh
export PATH=$PATH:/path according to your setting/
Restart your computer and here we go; the path will be there permanently.
Add script file [name_of_script].sh to the /etc/profile.d folder with the line:
export PATH=$PATH:/dir
Every script within the /etc/profile.d folder is automatically executed by /etc/profile on login.
My answer is in reference to the setting up of a Go environment on Ubuntu Linux (amd64). I have faced the same trouble of setting the path of environment variables (GOPATH and GOBIN), losing it on terminal exit and rebuilding it using the source <file_name> every time.
The mistake was to put the path (GOPATH and GOBIN) in ~/.bash_profile file. After wasting a few good hours, I found that the solution was to put GOPATH and GOBIN in the ~/.bash_rc file in the manner:
export GOPATH=$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.
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
I think the most elegant way is:
Add this in the ~./bashrc file:
if [ -d "new-path" ]; then
PATH=$PATH:new-path
fi
source *~/.bashrc*
(Ubuntu)
For a Debian distribution, you have to:
edit file ~/.bashrc. E.g: vim ~/.bashrc
add export PATH=$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
I have MySQL installed (MAMP, Mac OS X) but need to call it by the full path each time I access it from the shell. I created an alias: alias mysql='/Applications/MAMP/Library/Bin/mysql, but this only lasts as long as my terminal/Bash session.
What is an effective way for establishing permanent aliases that will work across users? (I need to be able to execute commands from PHP). Should I set up aliases in the Bash start up script (how is that done?), or is it better to edit the sudoers file? (Could use an example of that as well..)
Thanks--
EDIT- Based on answer:
I just tried creating a ~/.bashrc and wrote the following:
alias mysql='/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysql'
But this doesn't seem to have any effect. Is there a special syntax for this file?
Add the command to your ~/.bashrc file.
To make it available to all users, add it to /etc/profile.
Different shell uses different dot file to store aliases.
For mac, the bash shell uses .bash_profile or .profile
For ubuntu, the bash shell uses.bashrc
If you are using zsh shell and ohmyzsh plugin, the dot file is .zshrc
Traditionally, to add a permanent alias, you need to open the dot file and write alias manually like:
alias hello="echo helloworld"
And remember to source the dot file to have it take effect. To source the dot file on ubuntu's bash, type source .bashrc To make the alias available to all users, write to /etc/profile instead of the dot file. Remember to type source /etc/profile for the new alias to take effect.
If you simply want a temporary alias, you do not need to write to dot file. Simply type that same command (alias hello="echo helloworld) on the terminal.
Note that a temporary alias created through the alias command will disappear once the shell is closed.
If you are looking for a single command to generate aliases without open the text editor, read on.
If you have ruby installed on ubuntu, you can create permanent alias with a single command using aka.
gem install aka2
For example:
aka generate hello="echo helloworld" #will generate a alias hello="echo helloworld"
aka destroy hello #will destroy the alias hello
aka edit hello #will prompt you to edit the alias.
With aka, there is no need to write to the dot file with a text editor. And no need to source the dot file too.
You're going about this the wrong way.
Either add /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/ to your path, or create a script to invoke MySQL and place it in a bin directory which is already in your path.
On a mac the .bashrc file does not get sourced unless you put
source ~/.bashrc in the /etc/profile or /etc/bashrc.
Just thought I would mention that.