Command Line – Adding PATH with SETX or PATHMAN

command lineenvironment-variablespath

I am trying to add a PATH from command line, as with SETX %PATH%… it always expands the PATH, which I don't want.

PATHMAN is exactly for this purpose, but it doesn't work for me on Windows 7. It freezes most of the times, and it doesn't check for duplicated.

There must be a tool for managing PATH variables in the proper way. SETX would be perfect, but maybe not with the %PATH% syntax.

Best Answer

See the article Edit the PATH environment variable in Windows without pain.

It recommends using pathed :

For example, say that you have your Sysinternal tools in C:\Bin\Sysinternals and you want to add them to the PATH. Simply do:
pathed /append C:\Bin\Sysinternals /machine
If you want to add them to the user PATH system instead, then do:
pathed /append C:\Bin\Sysinternals /user

Related Solutions

Windows – CMD: Append to path without duplicating it

Similar to MaddHackers answer, just more compact.
echo %path%|find /i "%np%">nul || set path=%path%;%np%

%np% is your new path, of course you can use literals instead. What it does: echo %path%|find /i "%np%">nul searches existing path for a string, discarding output. || means execute on failure, so it means: Search path for string to be added, and if not found, add it.

Edit: Generally it's not required to quote paths, even those containig spaces, but if you do want to quote them, this version will work with double quoted paths:
echo %path%|find /i "%np:"=%">nul || set path=%path%;%np%

Edit: changed findstr /i /c: to find /i as findstr may misinterpret some sequences as noted by KubaOber in comments

How to Update the PATH User Environment Variable from Command-Line in Windows

PowerShell version, set PATH for user:

Set new PATH (overwrite) for current user:

PS> Set-ItemProperty -path HKCU:\Environment\ -Name Path -Value "C:\MyPath1"

Set append to current user PATH:

PS> Set-ItemProperty -path HKCU:\Environment\ -Name Path -Value "$((Get-ItemProperty -path HKCU:\Environment\ -Name Path).Path);C:\MyPath1"

Set prepend to current user PATH:

PS> Set-ItemProperty -path HKCU:\Environment\ -Name Path -Value "C:\MyPath1;$((Get-ItemProperty -path HKCU:\Environment\ -Name Path).Path)"

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – CMD: Append to path without duplicating it

How to Update the PATH User Environment Variable from Command-Line in Windows

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