How can I permanently add a class path to my Mac terminal?

Question

I want to set my path permanently for the following directory:

/Users/syalam/Library/android-sdk-mac_86/platform-tools

Not sure how to do it from the terminal. I tried:

export PATH=$PATH:/Users/syalam/Library/android-sdk-mac_86/platform-tools

but it only works temporarily. After I close my shell it no longer exists.

Solution 1

Just add this entry to your CLASSPATH environment variable in your .bashrc:

export CLASSPATH="/Users/syalam/Library/android-sdk-mac_86/platform-tools:$CLASSPATH"

Solution 2

http://blog.just2us.com/2011/05/setting-path-variable-in-mac-permanently/

Set permanently for a user:

Edit the user’s bash profile (replace USERNAME)

pico ~USERNAME/.bash_profile

Insert (or edit) this line

PATH=$PATH:/my/new/path/

Press ctrl-x, then ctrl-y, to save the file.

Done.

Set for all users

sudo pico /etc/paths

Enter your superuser password to edit, and insert or edit this link

PATH=$PATH:/my/new/path/

That’s it! Enjoy your path!

Comments

[Sheehan Alam]

Thanks! What is the difference between setting PATH and CLASSPATH?

[fge]

PATH is the list of directories in which you shell will search for commands, in the order where they appear -- ie, if you type ls, the shell will search for /bin/ls, then /usr/bin/ls if PATH is /bin:/usr/bin. CLASSPATH is a list of directories where the JVM will look for classes.

[fge]

Uhm, I know it's been long, but... Why the downvote?

[Coolio2654]

After many hours of going over quite a few answers here on stack overflow (and elsewhere), this was the only solution that ended up working on my mbp retina (2013), running mac OS 10.11.6. Thank you so much.