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Set $PATH variable in Ubuntu

The $PATH variable is one of the default environment variable in linux (ubuntu). It is used by the shell to look for executable files or commands.

One way to permanently add a directory to $PATH environment variable is to use the ~/.profile file. Add the following to the ~/.profile file to add myNewDir to $PATH

$ export PATH=$PATH:/myNewDir
$ source ~/.profile

The source command

source is a bash shell built-in command that executes the content of the file passed as argument, in the current shell. It has a synonym in . (period).

Note that ./ and source are not quite the same:

  • ./script runs the script as an executable file, launching a new shell to run it
  • source some_script reads and executes commands from filename in the current shell environment
  • source some_script is the same as . some_script