Adding a directory to the PATH in macOS Monterey?

The question is whether that path /opt/xyz/bin has any application in it that would pose a name space collision with an application distributed with the operating system, or if you just want its contents found. Where one places that path would then determine which same named application would be used first. The PATH statement is essentially shell independent other than the file it is located in.

/Users/$USER/.bash_profile or /Users/$USER/.zshrc

export PATH=".:/opt/xyz/bin:$PATH"

or

export PATH=".:$PATH:/opt/xyz/bin"



Once you have saved the dot file, you can invoke the PATH changes as follows for the relevant shell, or upon quitting and reopening the Terminal application, the PATH changes will be current when the dot file is read:

source ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.zshrc

You will use command-line editors such as vim or emacs or pico to edit the file—if you want/need to use a GUI editor, use BBEdit or textedit and select plain text—and make your changes.

pico is the easiest command line editor to use of the three, as it shows the editor commands on the screen.

BBEdit is a commercial product with a useful free tier. The free tier does all you’ll need here, and more. The free tier within BBEdit replaced the free TextWrangler editor.

To edit one of the bash login scripts:

pico ~/.bash_profile

or if you’re setting up zsh:

pico ~/.zshrc

About shell scripts in Terminal on Mac - Apple Support

Use command-line text editors in Terminal on Mac - Apple Support (this lists nano, but you’ll actually get pico. For discussion and usage purposes here, pico and nano can be considered the same.)

Command Line Primer

If you’re unsure about using the shell, or about a particular shell command, then I’d tend to suggest creating and using a second separate login for experimentation and testing. While you can’t damage macOS Monterey itself, an errant shell command can potentially damage or delete your own local files. Be very careful with -R “recursive” commands for instance, on chmod and rm and ilk. Have backups, etc.

To expand on the above, PATH is nothing more than a list of places to look for filenames that match your commands as input.

This so you don’t have to type the path on each command you input.

First matching filename found in the list wins.

If you want, you can bypass PATH entirely and add the full path onto each command, though.

Entering the full path is one way to get out of trouble if a name collision occurs, or if some other problem with PATH arises, too.

The default shell—bash, zsh, ksh, etc—doesn’t matter here, save for the filenames of the scripts run at login or at logout.

FrankO23 wrote:

Thanks much. Using:

Is there a suggested way to edit PATH?

Old school: I edit PATH in the shell’s login script, and then cut-and-paste and invoke the export when the edit is completed. That makes the change persistent, and tests the results before logout.

Here is my PATH from my .zshrc file on macOS Monterey 12.6. I use Python.org installers and have therefore, re-added Python 2.7.18 and Python 3.10.7 into /Library/Frameworks/Python.frameworks. Both paths are needed in my PATH entry. I also use homebrew package manager and on my M1 Mac, it deposits built packages in /opt/homebrew/bin. I also have a local bin directory for custom scripts, and some executables in /usr/local/bin too, including the links from the Python distributions.

The leading dot means find things in the current directory, so I don't have to prepend scripts with ./scriptname.

export PATH=".:$HOME/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.10/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:${PATH}"



Your login scripts are adding paths, yes.

When you successfully added /x/y/z with an export command, it’s live. Volatile. Not persistent. What’s in the login scripts is what you’ll get at each subsequent login. This is why I edit the login scripts, then export. Or can logout and back in.

Here’s an intro to the bash logins: https://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_03_01.html

Here are some macOS wrinkles: https://scriptingosx.com/2017/04/about-bash_profile-and-bashrc-on-macos/

Check all the spots where PATH is modified. A Spotlight search for “export PATH” or such from the GUI—or as you become more experienced with and more comfortable with the command line—a grep or mdfind or such can usually find the modifications to PATH.

Little Snitch can be useful by and for experienced users with an understanding of network security and its trade-offs.

Alas, too often it is used to introduce obscure and hard-to-diagnose issues.