CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonenvironment-variables
DanielJ
DanielJ

Reputation: 73

Set Path variable in Ubuntu 15.04

I have just moved to Linux (Ubuntu 15.04) and I am trying to add my python directory (:~/Documents/Python/Programs) to the path variable, but I am struggling..

I have tried export PATH = $PATH:~/Documents/Python/Programs, and then turning off and on again, but nothing happens I have also looked at my ~/.profile, but don't under stand it, it comes up with (I have removed a tonnes of comments from the top):

if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
    . "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

UPDATE: What I am trying to do is add my python directory to PATH so that I will be able to import self made modules from within this directory

I was under the impression I had to add this to PATH by adding 

PATH="$HOME/Documents/Python/Programs/:$PATH"

To the bottom of my ~/.profile document, was this wrong, and what should I actually be doing to solve this?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 558

Answers (1)

frlan
frlan

Reputation: 7270

You have to set your PATH e.g. inside ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc depending on where you want to use Python. Add something like this to the end of either of them:

PATH="$HOME/Documents/Python/Programs/:$PATH"

As stated by the comments, this change will only be take into account, after either restarting a login shell or new start of X session (e.g. newboot). If you need the changes directly, either source the file or export it manually... so

either

source ~/.profile source ~/.bashrc

(you could also use the . operator, but this is only working in Bash)

or export the variable 

export PATH="$HOME/Documents/Python/Programs/:$PATH"

It's important to add your custom path before original PATH as the shell will call the 1st file found inside $PATH.

Upvotes: 1

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