Terminal PATH startup message

bashpathterminal

I messed up when installing Cisco Packet Tracer for Linux and it some how changed a few bash files. After a few hours of looking around and changing my PATH, when I open a new Terminal window I get a message of every PATH that I've had (I think).

Last login: Wed Apr 10 14:38:52 on ttys000
PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/TeX/texbin:/usr/local/share/dotnet:/opt/X11/bin:~/.dotnet/tools:/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/bin:/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands:/Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS:/Applications/Xamarin Workbooks.app/Contents/SharedSupport/path-bin"; export PATH;

I have tried to reset my PATH without any luck. The same message appears. It is as if it executes it at every new session.

Which file am I suppose to change to make it work?
EDIT:
when I run as suggested: grep PATH ~/.bash_profile ~/.bash_login

I get:

Best Answer

Method #1, inspection of files

Depending on how the software installed it likely would've one or more of these files:

/etc/profile
/etc/bashrc
~/.bash_profile

Given it's a Linux scripted installer running on macOS it will likely have created some additional files which are typically not present on macOS but can augment the behavior of Bash when they're encountered.

~/.bashrc
/etc/profile.d/*

I'd take care to go through all these locations' files and inspect them for any residual cruft from the Linux installer.

Method #2, searching

Since you have some hints from that $PATH output you could search for files that contain bits from that string. For example:

$ grep -r '/Applications/Xamarin Workbooks.app' /etc ~

And then make note of any files that are returned. These would be the files that require repair.

Related Solutions

$PATH error on a terminal

Okay, so you've got a good understanding of $PATH and how it's used, but you're mistaken in thinking that it's a command. In Bash (and other shells), words prefaced by a dollarsign are variables. You can change the value of $PATH with the export command (as you probably already know).

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/something/you/need/bin

So in your shell when you just type $PATH you're basically telling your shell to run the command /usr/bin/:/bin/:/usr/local/bin:/etc//etc//etc/ which isn't a valid shell command.

@patrix was right, you should use echo to inspect your $PATH. I suspect that the "zsh: no such file or directory" is just your shell telling you that your command doesn't make sense.

Terminal $PATH error

The error message you listed is the result of using one of

 export $VARIABLE
 export /a/path/to/something
 export *more or less anything which is not a syntactically correct variable name*

instead of

 export VARIABLE

in one of your initialization files. To find the offending line you need to look into all the .profile, .bash_profile and anything sourced/called from there and grep for 'export ' to find it.

As it seams to be related to the installation of either PEAR or MAMP I would start looking at any additions done by these installations.