$PATH error

[aukermanw]

If I do the $PATH I always get No such file or directory I can't use the set path command so how do I find the system path as it is set to change or at least see what is giving the error.

I checked all directories that show and they are all good so it is giving the error and not showing the directory it is looking for.

[phe]

See :

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=184971

[aukermanw]

doing a set|more command I found the path statement and doing an export PATH= statement I am able to set the path but all of the directories are good and I still get the same error at the end.

This happens to all users including root so it has to be a system wide error.

[wintersm]

execute the command echo $PATH and past the result here, and what exactly you are tring to do - $PATH on its own is not a command, its a variable.

[aukermanw]

It is indeed a variable but it also acts as a command. If you type $PATH by itself it gives you the value, you do not have to echo.

I am going to close this thread myself as I have seen other machines that do the same so I will consider it a feature.

Thank you for your help

[sideways]

It is not a command it is a variable.

linux likes to give an error when you enter a non-command to let you know that you have typed something silly.

[PabloTwo]

~/> $PATH
bash: /usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/paulm/bin: No such file or directory

Yeah, I didn't know you could just type the variable to have it list it's value. But note 'No such file or directory' displayed at the end of the path list. That's because /home/paulm/bin doesn't exist. Perhaps that is what you're seeing? Using 'echo $PATH' won't report any such error, just the contents of the variable.

[sideways]

Originally Posted by PabloTwo

~/> $PATH
bash: /usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/paulm/bin: No such file or directory

Yeah, I didn't know you could just type the variable to have it list it's value. But note 'No such file or directory' displayed at the end of the path list. That's because /home/paulm/bin doesn't exist. Perhaps that is what you're seeing? Using 'echo $PATH' won't report any such error, just the contents of the variable.

The error is generated because the value of the variable $PATH is a colon separated list of dirs, which is not a command nor a recognisable file or dir. It is not telling you that one of the dirs in $PATH does not exist.

In case of confusion

export PATH2=/home:/usr
$PATH2
-bash: /home:/usr: No such file or directory

export PATH3=/home
$PATH3
-bash: /home: is a directory

[PabloTwo]

Yes, I know "$PATH" is not a bash command. My point was that when confronted with just "$PATH", bash listed the entire contents of the PATH variable in the error line instead of just "bash: $PATH unknown command" or "bash: $PATH unknown file or directory".

I removed /home/paulm/bin and /usr/X11R6/bin from my $PATH, leaving only valid paths, and got the same results, so you're absolutely correct that bash is telling me that "$PATH" is an unknown file or directory and not related to a non existent path in the PATH statement. I just thought it interesting that bash parsed the variable and displayed it's contents.

[aukermanw]

See I said it was a feature, just trying to say "DON'T DO THAT"

Thanks to everyone