Why cmder does not import the user path variables

cmdercommand lineconemuenvironment-variablespath

The path variable in the cmder only contains those paths imported form the system path variable. While in normal command shell, the system path and user path will be concatenated.

I've found in the cmder_dir\vendor\init.bat the following lines:

:: Enhance Path
@set git_install_root=%CMDER_ROOT%\vendor\msysgit
@set PATH=%CMDER_ROOT%\bin;%git_install_root%\bin;%git_install_root%\mingw\bin;%git_install_root%\cmd;%git_install_root%\share\vim\vim74;%CMDER_ROOT%;%PATH%

But obviously only system path is included in the %PATH% above.

How could I add the user path to it?

Best Answer

As you have already found out, %PATH% in the init.bat does include the user path. The problem however isn't entirely cmders fault. It has something to do with DOS, or the batch file.

For example with PATH as

C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Fabric 1.5.4 & MySQL Utilities 1.5.4 1.5\

The line

@set PATH=%OTHER_PATHS%;%PATH%

gets replaced to

@set PATH=C:\OTHER\PATHS;C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Fabric 1.5.4 & MySQL Utilities 1.5.4 1.5\

And it apparently gets interpreted as

@set PATH=C:\OTHER\PATHS;C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Fabric 1.5.4 & 
MySQL Utilities 1.5.4 1.5\ #separate line/command

Which resulted in cmder trying to execute MySQL with the rest of the line as the parameters.

This phenomenon also caused your user path to drop from the path cmder uses, resulting in you not being able to use your user defined paths. Did cmder output anything when starting it up, or attempt to execute something?

For other people having issues with this, simply wrap the path with the & with double quotes. So in my case this would be

"C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Fabric 1.5.4 & MySQL Utilities 1.5.4 1.5\"

This fixed it for me.

My knowledge with DOS and batch is quite small, those are just observations I have made through trial and error. I just found this out and wanted to share.

Related Solutions

Windows – How to append user-defined environment variables to the system variable PATH in Windows 7

UPDATE NO.2 - Now to the actual question: Why do nested, user-created variables fail to expand?

There's some general problems concerning variable expansion in Windows. I've already run into the same problem and found no clear, reproducible circumstances - the recursion level at which expansion fails is not consistent, special characters don't seem to play a role, etc.

The only viable workaround I found is adding variables recursion level by recursion level. That means: Try deleting all variables you want to nest into each other (including calls from PATH to your user-defined variables), and then start up from scratch. Define your basic variables (etc. ANT-HOME), commit, check if it's expanded, if it is, go on with the next level commit, check... you get the idea.

UPDATED ANSWER - Defining permanent environment variables using the CLI and GUI - Scroll down for the original answer

GUI method:

On Windows 7, just type "system" in the META-Prompt and you'll see an entry "Edit the System Environment Variables". From there, click "Environment variables". There, you can either edit the system variable PATH (bottom list) or add/edit a new PATH variable to the user environment variables.

Command line method:

To change environment variables permanently, you have to use the SETX command in the Windows command line. Unlike in other versions of Windows, it comes built-in with Windows 7. Its syntax differs a lot from SET, but it's also powerful. You'll have to be a bit careful though, it's easy to make a mess of your variables with SETX.

By default, you change user variables. You can have a PATH user environment variable that happily coexists with the system PATH variable. If you don't have it defined yet, do so by typing: SETX PATH yourpath
You can also add a value to the system variable PATH. To do this, you first need to bring up a command line with admin privileges. To do this, hit the Meta(Windows) key, type cmd and hit CTRL+ SHIFT+ENTER and confirm the UAC dialog.

To add new values to path, you can now enter

setx path "%path%;yournewpath" /m

It's important to follow that syntax! If you don't include %path% first, all existing values of path will be lost and replaced with only you new path. The /m switch at the end sets the variable in the system environment.

Please note that you'll have to bring up a new command line to make use of your new variable.

There's also a full reference for SETX at TechNet.

OLD ANSWER The command SET updates the variables only for the duration of the current command line session.

The correct syntax for adding a value to a variable is 'set [variable]=%[variable]%;[new value]`

Note that left of the equal sign, you have to omit the percent signs!

Source: TechNet Command-line reference for Windows Server

Windows – Prevent Windows System %PATH% from being prepended to user %PATH

If you only need this to work for command prompt sessions, create a profile/init batch file and configure it in the registry, per https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17404165/how-to-run-a-command-on-command-prompt-startup-in-windows. E.g.,

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun ^
  /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%"USERPROFILE"%\init.cmd" /f

Then simply make modifications to the PATH in that batch file. E.g.,

SET USER_PATH=c:\whatever
SET PATH=%USER_PATH%;%PATH%

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – How to append user-defined environment variables to the system variable PATH in Windows 7

Windows – Prevent Windows System %PATH% from being prepended to user %PATH

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