Inside the file, enter the following line: Go back to the terminal and open the appropriate config file or profile for your shell in nano or any other text editor. Here, right-click on the program/script, press the Option key, and select Copy xyz as Pathname, where xyz is a program name. For this, open the Finder and navigate to the directory where the program or script is stored or installed.
HOW TO SHOW FILE PATH MAC OSX FULL
Now, all you have to do is find the full path for the program or script on the file system. If the config file or profile file is missing from your system, this command will create a new one in case it exists, it’ll open the same, and you can then edit it. Now that you know the file where you need to add the path for your program/script, open the terminal and enter a command based on your shell:
For older macOS versions (before Catalina): bash (. To do this, you need to access the shell’s configuration or profile file and add the program’s path to it.ĭepending on the macOS version you’re running on your Mac, this can be done via either the bash shell or zsh (z shell). In case you want to use a program regularly, you must set its path permanently. If you want to use/execute a program via terminal only in your current session, you can set its path temporarily using the following command:Įxport PATH=$PATH:absolute/path/to/program/įor example, if you want to set PATH for Python 3.6, you’d run:Įxport PATH=$PATH:/Library/Frameworks/amework/Versions/3.6/binĭoing so will set a temporary variable for the program, which you can use in your commands in the current terminal session or the active terminal window. Once you’ve identified the current PATH entries, you can now set the PATH for any program. If you’re setting PATH for a new program/script, you can skip this step. To view the current PATH settings, open the Terminal app and run: Read More Identifying the Current PATH Entriesīefore you add a program’s path to the PATH variable on your Mac, you should first identify the current entries in your system’s PATH to verify that there isn’t already an entry for the same. With that out of the way, follow the steps in the sections below to set PATH on your Mac. In contrast, setting the PATH permanently will preserve your changes permanently and apply them to all your sessions-even after you start a new terminal session or restart your Mac. When you set PATH temporarily, your path changes apply only to the current session-logging out of the session reverts back the PATH to its previous state. Plus, depending on your requirements, there are two ways to set the PATH on your Mac: temporary and permanent. Setting the PATH variable in macOS requires using the CLI-unlike Windows, which lets you do so using both GUI and CLI. On the other hand, if you set the path for that program in the PATH variable, you can easily use it in any directory on your system without specifying its absolute path.īasically, what this means is that instead of running your command like this: But unfortunately, since doing so over and over would take up a lot of your time and effort, this isn’t a very efficient approach and can’t be used when you want to run commands repeatedly. 
Like we mentioned initially, specifying the absolute or full path of the directory where the program is installed/stored in your command is one way to overcome this error.
If not, you get the command not found error. If a path address is found, it executes the command successfully and returns the output. On macOS, when you run a command in the terminal, it searches for the path of the requested program in that command inside the PATH environment variable. Why Do You Need to Set the PATH Environment Variable?
Talking about PATH, the variable contains a list of all the directories (for various programs added to the PATH) that the shell needs to search for to execute your requested programs through a terminal command. Environment variables constitute name-value pairs for various programs or processes on an operating system, such as the path, locations of system programs or processes, and other essential information required by other system programs. PATH or PATH variable is a type of environment variable on all Unix- and- Unix-like operating systems. How do I find the PATH variable on a Mac? How do I set an environment variable in Catalina Mac?
Add to PATH Mac: Accessing Programs From Anywhere via Terminal. 
Why Do You Need to Set the PATH Environment Variable?.
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