The PATH variable is a list of directories separated by colon (:). The shell searches through these directories whenever it needs to find a command.
You can you printenv command to display the PATHvariable
$ printenv PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
To add a new path into the PATH variable
$ PATH=$PATH:
Example
$ PATH=$PATH:/test/programs
$ printenv PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/test/programs
It is special variable that has a lit of directories there all our applications are located. In other to find out this PATH variable in UNIX type operating system use env command and look for PATH variable in ENVIRONMENT variables list or use bash line: echo $PATH this will return only $PATH variable.For example my PATH variable is:/Users/david/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/binWhen you will try to launch a program by writing it's name in console all those directories you see in PATH variable will be checked for that application.
Utilities are external programs - they reside in various directories. To enable them, make sure the directory path is in your $PATH variable so it can find them. Likewise, to disable them make sure the directory path is not in your $PATH variable for the shell.
The shell interpreter uses the PATH or path variable to determine which directories to look in. It will look for an executable file with the same name as the command.
Use the following: PS1='$PWD : '
Use the shell variable PS1 to set the command prompt to whatever you need.
Absolute path: Path from root directory (it is the same place, wherever the current path is) Relative path: Relative to the current path.
The path (or PATH) variable is a shell environment variable. It describes to the shell which directories should be searched for executable files/programs. The system does not search every directory to find a program; only those directories indicated in the PATH shell environment variable. The same thing is true for Windows.
passwd
The PATH environment variable is the default search path(s) for when an explicit path is not provided and the file requested is not in the current directory.
You export a variable in one process so that a child process can have the value as well. If you don't export the variable then the child process cannot see it.
The Unix pathname format uses the forward slash (/) to separate the component parts of the path.
To change the current directory to /etc/java/bin, use the command "cd /etc/java/bin".To add the above path to the PATH variable, type export PATH="$PATH:/etc/java/bin".To check whether you have successfully added that PATH, type "echo $PATH".To permanently add /etc/java/bin to PATH variable, edit /etc/profile or ~/.bashrc file and add the command, export PATH="$PATH:/etc/java/bin". (NOTE: After adding, you will need to reboot the machine or type "source /etc/profile" or "source ~/.bashrc".