PATH variable

linuxkid12 · 05-28-2013, 09:25 AM

Would it be wrong if the path variable was set like:

PATH=$HOME:$PATH

??

Would this be an infinite loop?

Should it be- PATH=$PATH:$HOME instead?

grail · 05-28-2013, 09:51 AM

Not sure why you think it would be an infinite loop? Each variable only has a set amount of values and is evaluated exactly once. This is in turn assigned to what is on the LHS of the equation.

As for should you include your HOME path in your PATH variable I would consider the fact that of all the places where it is easiest for malicious commands to reside would be in a user directory,
I would not personally place it in the PATH at all.

As with all versions of linux though, the choice is completely yours

suicidaleggroll · 05-28-2013, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxkid12

Would it be wrong if the path variable was set like:

PATH=$HOME:$PATH

...

Should it be- PATH=$PATH:$HOME instead?

The only difference between these is what order the shell will search through your directories to find a match for whatever you typed. It will only make a difference if you have two programs with the same name, one in $HOME, and one elsewhere in $PATH, in which case the order will determine which one is selected.

jpollard · 05-28-2013, 10:46 PM

To answer your question, no it is not recursive.

The reason it is not recursive is due to the way shells interpret command lines.

1. expand all substitutions.
2. execute the command...

So if PATH had the value "/usr/bin" at the beginning, the first step would turn your command line:

PATH=$HOME:$PATH

into

PATH=/home/<username>:/usr/bin

Then it would do the assignment giving PATH the value "/home/<username>:/usr/bin"