Solved Removing duplicated $PATH

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

As topic states .. i have one path 3 times ( by accident ) and can not find how to remove.
Im using zsh shell for user account.
Thank You.

richardtoohey2 · Jan 11, 2023

The man page has a FILES section that mentions a few possibilities:

zsh

www.freebsd.org

I don’t mean that in an RTFM way - just saying it might be pointing at something worth checking.

e.g. do you have any .z<something> files in your home directory?

covacat · Jan 11, 2023

check your shell init scripts like .zshrc / not sure what they are for zsh

Alain De Vos · Jan 11, 2023

Can you post your user .zshrc & global /etc/csh.cshrc
What is the shell of the user as defined in /etc/password

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

Alain De Vos said:
& global /etc/csh.cshrc

/etc/csh.cshrc is only used by the C shells (tcsh(1)/csh(1)). None of the Bourne compatible shells (sh(1), bash(1), zsh(1), etc) use them.

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

Alain De Vos said:
Can you post your user .zshrc & global /etc/csh.cshrc
What is the shell of the user as defined in /etc/passw

I added only 2 lines of code rest of it - standard:

Code:

neofetch

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"

i was installing qtile and i was taking example from my other laptop (FreeBSD in there as well ) so i wrote same line .. but i was having an issue with qtile so i deleted it and used git to install and wrote export PATH command with path location ( i believe i did it 2 times )
P.s. if i write $PATH in my terminal - i have 4 same paths

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

What does echo $PATH output?

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

SirDice said:
What does echo $PATH output?

Code:

/home/evo/.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin/:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/evo/bin

Its like replicator - multiplying itself

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

GlitchyDot said:
I added only 2 lines of code rest of it - standard:

Where exactly did you add that line? In which file? If you execute that export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH" multiple times consecutively, it's going to add that /home/eve/.local/bin to the PATH each time. You then end up with multiple references to that path.

covacat · Jan 11, 2023

use this

Code:

[ ${PATH%%:*} = ${HOME}/.local/bin ] || export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

assuming zsh will do posix expansions

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

SirDice said:
Where exactly did you add that line? In which file?

https://termbin.com/uptre

my .zshrc file.

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

covacat said:
use this

Code:

[ ${PATH%%:*} = ${HOME}/.local/bin ] || export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

assuming zsh will do posix expansions

but it does not remove duplicates... i want to remove duplicated paths - which now i have 6 of them

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

I found this :

Code:

ZSH users

If you are a ZSH user and there are too many paths in your ~/.zshrc file, you can add the following at the end of your ~/.zshrc:

# .zshrc
typeset -U PATH

This prevents duplicates of PATH variables.

so now instead of :

Code:

/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/usr/local/sbin/usr/local/bin:/home/evo/bin

it shows me:

Code:

/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/evo/bin

removed only few dupes and /home/evo/.local/bin: still is still posted twice.

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

It sounds like you're running zsh in a zsh multiple times. Each subshell will inherit the parent's exported variables, and ~/.zshrc is invoked every time you start zsh. Thus every subshell will add a /home/evo/.local/bin to the PATH variable.

Code:

       Commands	 are then read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv.  If the shell is a login
       shell, commands are read	from /etc/zprofile  and	 then  $ZDOTDIR/.zpro-
       file.   Then,  if  the  shell  is  interactive,	commands are read from
       /etc/zshrc and then $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc.  Finally, if the shell is a	 login
       shell, /etc/zlogin and $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin are read.

It's also possible you have that PATH line in ~/.zshrc and ~/.zprofile causing it to get executed twice.

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

See how this works?

Code:

dice@fbsd-test:~ % echo $SHELL
/bin/tcsh
dice@fbsd-test:~ % cat ~/.zshrc
export PATH="${HOME}/mypath:$PATH"
dice@fbsd-test:~ % echo $PATH
/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
dice@fbsd-test:~ % zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
fbsd-test% zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
fbsd-test% zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

SirDice said:
It sounds like you're running zsh in a zsh multiple times. Each subshell will inherit the parent's exported variables, and ~/.zshrc is invoked every time you start zsh. Thus every subshell will add a /home/evo/.local/bin to the PATH variable.

Code:

Commands are then read from $ZDOTDIR/.zshenv. If the shell is a login shell, commands are read from /etc/zprofile and then $ZDOTDIR/.zpro- file. Then, if the shell is interactive, commands are read from /etc/zshrc and then $ZDOTDIR/.zshrc. Finally, if the shell is a login shell, /etc/zlogin and $ZDOTDIR/.zlogin are read.

It's also possible you have that PATH line in ~/.zshrc and ~/.zprofile causing it to get executed twice.

Is this because i typed zsh instead of source ~/.zshrc

SirDice · Jan 11, 2023

GlitchyDot said:
Is this because i typed zsh instead of source ~/.zshrc

Because that will spawn a subshell that inherits the parent's PATH variable and executes ~/.zshrc, adding the directory again to the existing PATH. But even if you source the file it would still get added to the existing PATH (which already included that directory).

Code:

dice@fbsd-test:~ % echo $PATH
/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
dice@fbsd-test:~ % zsh
fbsd-test% source .zshrc
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
fbsd-test% source .zshrc
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin

GlitchyDot · Jan 11, 2023

SirDice said:

See how this works?

Code:

dice@fbsd-test:~ % echo $SHELL
/bin/tcsh
dice@fbsd-test:~ % cat ~/.zshrc
export PATH="${HOME}/mypath:$PATH"
dice@fbsd-test:~ % echo $PATH
/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
dice@fbsd-test:~ % zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
fbsd-test% zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin
fbsd-test% zsh
fbsd-test% echo $PATH
/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/home/dice/mypath:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/dice/bin

I see .. i typed zsh by accident ... .
Thank You.

ralphbsz · Jan 11, 2023

One possible solution: Don't add things to the path if (a) they don't exist, and (b) if they are already on the path:

Code:

if [ -d $HOME/bin ] && ! echo $PATH | egrep -q  "(^|:)$HOME/bin($|:)" ; then
    export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH ; fi

(that syntax works both in bash and in zsh, and probably in all sh-based shells)

dorjechang · Jan 11, 2023

You'll never face such problem in any shell if you set your PATH in ~/.login_conf

Erichans · Feb 5, 2023

zshbuiltins(1):

Rich (BB code):

       typeset [ {+|-}AHUaghlmrtux ] [ {+|-}EFLRZip [ n	] ]
	       [ + ] [ name[=value] ...	]
       typeset -T [ {+|-}Uglrux	] [ {+|-}LRZp [	n ] ]
	       [ + | SCALAR[=value] array[=(value ...)]	[ sep ]	]
       typeset -f [ {+|-}TUkmtuz ] [ + ] [ name	... ]
	      Set or display attributes	and values for shell parameters.
[...]
	      -U     For arrays	(but not for associative  arrays),  keep  only
			     the  first	occurrence of each duplicated value.  This may
			     also be set for tied parameters (see -T)  or  colon-sepa-
			     rated special parameters like PATH	or FIGNORE, etc.  Note
			     the flag takes effect on assignment, and the type of  the
			     variable  being  assigned	to is determinative; for vari-
			     ables with	shared values it is therefore  recommended  to
			     set  the  flag  for all interfaces, e.g. `typeset -U PATH
			     path'.

			     This flag has a different meaning when used with -f;  see
			     below.

Chapter 2.5.11: Path from A User's Guide to ZSH describes it with examples; from there, in .zshenv:
You could use:

Code:

for dir in ~/bin ~/progs/bin; do
    if [[ -z ${path[(r)$dir]} ]]; then
      path=($dir $path)
    fi 
done

However, given zhs' specific properties, there is a more compact form:

Code:

typeset -U path
path=(~/bin ~/progs/bin $path)

Alternatively, you could set the path in .zshrc (only for interactive shells!).

edit - amended (see also message below):

GlitchyDot said:

The two following settings both work:

Code:

typeset -U PATH
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"

Code:

typeset -U path
path=(~/.local/bin/ $path)

Using either option:

typeset -U path in combination with path=(~/.local/bin/ $path)
typeset -U PATH in combination with PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"

has the same effect* because path and PATH are tied parameters, that is: when you change one the other changes accordingly. In zsh(1), path and PATH are special: they are tied by default and PATH is exported by default.

For example, without export:

Code:

% typeset -U PATH
% PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"

you should be able to see the active settings as follows:

Code:

% typeset -p PATH
export -UT PATH path=( /home/evo/.local/bin /sbin /bin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /usr/local/sbin /usr/local/bin /home/evo/bin )

___
* In general, the effect of uniqueness is only enforced for the specified parameter: typeset -U PATH only enforces uniqueness for PATH. To enforce the same uniqueness behaviour for the scalar PATH and the array path it is recommended to use both:

Rich (BB code):

typeset -U path PATH
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"

Erichans · Feb 8, 2023

GlitchyDot said:
I found this :

Code:

typeset -U PATH This prevents duplicates of PATH variables.

When I look at your examples of PATH then typeset -U did its job and made its parts unique:

so now instead of :

Rich (BB code):

/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/usr/local/sbin/usr/local/bin:/home/evo/bin

Rich (BB code):
it shows me:

Rich (BB code):

/home/evo/.local/bin:/home/evo.local/bin/:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/home/evo/bin

removed only few dupes and /home/evo/.local/bin: still is still posted twice.

Solved Removing duplicated $PATH

GlitchyDot

richardtoohey2

zsh

covacat

Alain De Vos

SirDice

Administrator

GlitchyDot

SirDice

Administrator

GlitchyDot

SirDice

Administrator

covacat

GlitchyDot

GlitchyDot

GlitchyDot

SirDice

Administrator

SirDice

Administrator

GlitchyDot

SirDice

Administrator

GlitchyDot

ralphbsz

dorjechang

Erichans

Erichans