PATH Variable – How to Reset It on MacOS

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I stuffed up (basically wiped) my PATH variable.

Is there any way to reset it to the default?

I look at How do I reset the $PATH variable on Mac OS X?, but I find it very confusing. As far as I know I stuffed up my ~/.profile file.

Best Answer

I have the following in my ~/.profile:

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
PATH=$PATH:~/bin

The first PATH declaration overrides any existing PATH setting (it doesn't include $PATH). The path used is the OS X default.

The second line appends ~/bin to the PATH and it is a personal preference, not a default.

After edit, restart your session — or use command source ~/.profile to activate the changes immediately.

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