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Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

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Re: Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

#5

Post by arp242 »

For zsh I use this to setup $PATH, which seems to address most of the use cases of this tool:

  ### Setup PATH
  dirs=(
      /usr/lib/ccache/bin                   # ccache
      ~/.local/script ~/.local/bin          # My local scripts.
      ~/.local/gobin                        # GOBIN
      /usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin        # local takes precedence
      /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin         # Standard Unix
      /usr/pkg/bin   /usr/pkg/sbin          # NetBSD
      /usr/X11R6/bin /usr/X11R6/sbin        # OpenBSD
      /opt/ooce/bin                         # illumos
      ~/.local/share/gem/ruby/*/bin(N[-1])  # Ruby
      ~/.luarocks/bin(N[-1])                # Lua
      ~/.local/dotnet/root ~/.local/dotnet/tools  # .NET
      /usr/lib/plan9/bin                    # Plan 9 from userspace
      ~/code/Vim/gopher.vim/tools/bin       # gopher.vim
      ~/.nimble/bin                         # Nim
      ~/.cargo/bin                          # Rust
      ~/.ghcup/bin                          # Haskell
  )
  typeset -U path=()                        # No duplicates
  # Use full path so /bin and /usr/bin aren't duplicated if it's a symlink.
  for d in $dirs:A; [[ -d $d ]] && path+=($d)
  unset dirs d
typeset -U makes the $path array "unique", and :A ensures the full path is always used (in case of symlinks).

You can probably do something similar with bash, but idk.

$path is tied to $PATH and an array, so you can use it as such for some of the other things:

  print ${(F)path} | grep /bin  # (F) to print one array per line
  print ${(F)path} | sort       # can also use (o) to print ordered

Re: Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

#7

Post by throwaway84846 »

arp242 wrote: post #5

For zsh I use this to setup $PATH, which seems to address most of the use cases of this tool: ### Setup PATH dirs=( /usr/lib/ccache/bin # ccache ~/.local/script ~/.local/bin # My local scripts. ~/.local/gobin # GOBIN /usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin # local takes precedence /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin # Standard Unix /usr/pkg/bin /usr/pkg/sbin # NetBSD /usr/X11R6/bin /usr/X11R6/sbin # OpenBSD /opt/ooce/bin # illumos…

I use 'path=( ${(u)^path:A}(N-/) )' instead of that for loop

Re: Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

#8

Post by DanielKehoe »

I'd like to hear viewpoints on using `~/.zprofile` versus `~/.zshrc` for setting `$PATH` on macOS. I was bothered for years that I didn't know the difference so I dived down the rabbit hole and wrote a guide [1]. In the end, I concluded:

- Use `~/.zprofile` to set the PATH and EDITOR environment variables. - Use `~/.zshrc` for aliases and a custom prompt, or anything tweaking the appearance and behavior of the terminal.

It seems the advantage of the `~/.zprofile` file versus `~/.zshenv` is that it sets environment variables such as `$PATH` without override from macOS. It seems the `~/.zshrc` file could be used for `$PATH` but, by convention and design, is intended for customizing the look and feel of the interactive terminal.

Frankly, saying `~/.zprofile` is better than `~/.zshrc` for setting `$PATH` only "by convention and design" feels like a cop-out. Wondering if anyone knows better.

[1] https://mac.install.guide/terminal/zshrc-zprofile

Re: Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

#9

Post by OccamsMirror »

nolongerthere wrote: post #4

I’m struggling to understand the use case for this aside from just checking if your own directory is on the path.

Not bad for a security check.

https://systemweakness.com/linux-privilege-escalation-using-...

Re: Show HN: Justpath – a simple utility to explore the PATH environment variable

#10

Post by vim-guru »

I think for most of its use-cases, you could replace it with a one-liner: alias path='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n} ' and work with it via sort and uniq. I've had this alias in my configuration for a couple of decades now, so I'm not bashing on its usefulness though.
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