Setting PATH environment variable in OSX permanently

Question

You have to add it to /etc/paths.

Reference (which works for me) : Here

I've found that there are some files that may affect the $PATH variable in macOS (works for me, 10.11 El Capitan), listed below:

1. As the top voted answer said, vi /etc/paths, which is recommended from my point of view.

2. Also don't forget the /etc/paths.d directory, which contains files may affect the $PATH variable, set the git and mono-command path in my case. You can ls -l /etc/paths.d to list items and rm /etc/paths.d/path_you_dislike to remove items.

3. If you're using a "bash" environment (the default Terminal.app, for example), you should check out ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc. There may be not that file yet, but these two files have effects on the $PATH.

4. If you're using a "zsh" environment (Oh-My-Zsh, for example), you should check out ~./zshrc instead of ~/.bash* thing.

And don't forget to restart all the terminal windows, then echo $PATH. The $PATH string will be PATH_SET_IN_3&4:PATH_SET_IN_1:PATH_SET_IN_2.

Noticed that the first two ways (/etc/paths and /etc/path.d) is in / directory which will affect all the accounts in your computer while the last two ways (~/.bash* or ~/.zsh*) is in ~/ directory (aka, /Users/yourusername/) which will only affect your account settings.

Read more: Mac OS X: Set / Change $PATH Variable - nixCraft

For a new path to be added to PATH environment variable in MacOS just create a new file under /etc/paths.d directory and add write path to be set in the file. Restart the terminal. You can check with echo $PATH at the prompt to confirm if the path was added to the environment variable.

For example: to add a new path /usr/local/sbin to the PATH variable:

cd /etc/paths.d
sudo vi newfile

Add the path to the newfile and save it.

Restart the terminal and type echo $PATH to confirm

You could also add this

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    . ~/.bashrc
fi

to ~/.bash_profile, then create ~/.bashrc where you can just add more paths to PATH. An example with .

export PATH=$PATH:.