How to remove entry from $PATH on mac

Question

I was trying to install Sencha Touch SDK tools 2.0.0 but could not run it properly. It created an entry in the $PATH variable. Later I deleted the sencha sdk tools folder but didn't realize that the path variable is still there.

When i did echo $PATH I got -

/Applications/SenchaSDKTools-2.0.0-beta3:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin

I searched on how to remove variables from $PATH and followed these steps :

1. Gave the command PATH="/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin"
2. Did echo $PATH which showed /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
3. gave the command export PATH
4. Closed terminal and reopened it. Gave the command echo $PATH. This time I got /Applications/SenchaSDKTools-2.0.0-beta3:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin

Can anyone tell me what am i doing wrong?

Solution 1

What you're doing is valid for the current session (limited to the terminal that you're working in). You need to persist those changes. Consider adding commands in steps 1-3 above to your ${HOME}/.bashrc.

Solution 2

1. echo $PATH and copy it's value
2. export PATH=""
3. export PATH="/path/you/want/to/keep"

Solution 3

Check the following files:

/etc/bashrc
/etc/profile
~/.bashrc
~/.bash_profile
~/.profile
~/.MacOSX/environment.plist

Some of these files may not exist, but they're the most likely ones to contain $PATH definitions.

Solution 4

On MAC OS X Leopard and higher

cd /etc/paths.d

There may be a text file in the above directory that contains the path you are trying to remove.

vim textfile //check and see what is in it when you are done looking type :q 
//:q just quits, no saves

If its the one you want to remove do this

rm textfile //remove it, delete it

Here is a link to a site that has more info on it, even though it illustrates 'adding' the path. However, you may gain some insight.

Solution 5

If you're removing the path for Python 3 specifically, I found it in ~/.zprofile and ~/.zshrc.

View more solutions

Comments

[Tushar Koul]

i'm sorry, i didn't quite get what you are saying. Where should I add the ${HOME}\.bashhrc command?

[Tushar Koul]

and I was aware of the commands being valid for the current terminal session. Thats why i thought "export" would work

[devnull]

Add the commands in steps 1 & 3 to the file ${HOME}/.bashrc (at the end of the file). Open a new terminal and execute echo $PATH.

[devnull]

Simply export VARIABLE=VALUE wouldn't persist VARIABLE for all sessions. You need to say that in a startup file, e.g. ${HOME}/.bashrc or /etc/profile (if the changes are intended for all users on the system).

[Tushar Koul]

I opened the file using nano ~\.bashrc..it already had export PATH=/Applications/SenchaSDKTools-2.0.0-beta3:$PATH there. Also, when i try to edit and save I'm getting Permission denied.

[Tushar Koul]

~/.profile returned "no such file" and all others returned "permission denied"

[Ansgar Wiechers]

You need superuser permissions for editing files in /etc. You should be able to at least read all of the files, though (provided they do exist). What are the permissions on the files? (ls -el filename)

[Tushar Koul]

whats the difference between bashrc in the /etc directory and the bashrc in the ~/ directory?

[Tushar Koul]

adding in bash_profile helped me remove it from PATH variable. I opened it using sudo nano ~/.bash_profile

[Ansgar Wiechers]

The one in /etc affects all users, the one on your home directory (~) only your own user. And the settings in ~/.bashrc take precedence over the ones in /etc/bashrc.

[Mike Furlender]

In the future I advise you to read the body of the question before answering.

[schalkneethling]

Also note that after running export PATH="" you might see errors such as: -bash: tail: No such file or directory -bash: sed: No such file or directory That is expected.

[Crocode]

To me changing in ~/.profile worked. I'm using MAC OS X El Capitan. I think by default, it's taking from ~/.profile

[zapstar]

Also remember to look inside /etc/paths.d/

[Noumenon]

Other options: ~/.zshrc and ~/.zprofile.

[ObiHill]

@AnsgarWiechers You should also add /etc/paths file and /etc/paths.d directory to the list.

[Brod]

This was exactly what I needed to find the culprit. /etc/paths.d/ had the bad entry. Thanks @BannerMan

[analyst_47]

Quite direct!! Thank you

[Kirit Vaghela]

for me it's ${HOME}/.zshrc file

[Pawan]

export PATH="" is throwing error as zsh: bad assignment