Question

5

Difference between ~/folder and /home/username/folder when creating a path in /etc/environment

rated 0 times [ 5] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 3609 / 2 Years ago, sat, february 12, 2022, 11:50:50

I had an executable script on my ubuntu located on ~/project/ directory and I tried to add that path to /etc/environment . So , I edit the path to this PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:~/project/" . Then , I logout and login back , open the terminal as su and run the command to execute my script on that folder but the result is command not found.

Then, I change the path in /etc/environment to PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/home/r0xx4nne/project/" and voila it works.Now i can run the executable script inside ~/project/ without fail under su command.

My question is , what's the difference between ~/project and /home/r0xx4nne/project when it comes in case of creating a path in /etc/environment ?

Why it happened to be like this? I am a newbie and I just want to know more . Thanks for any reply .

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

mugustered

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 193

Total Questions: 123

Total Answers: 108

Location: Bermuda

Member since Wed, Mar 22, 2023

1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago mentpengu · Accepted Answer

In the shell, ~/project/ is expanded to /home/yourusername/project in most circumstances. This is called tilde expansion.

If you put

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:~/project/

(note, without the quotes) in ~/.profile. Your PATH will be set correctly, because ~/.profile is interpreted by a shell when you log in. /etc/environment (and it's user-specific ~/.pam_environment) is not interpreted by a shell. It is read by the pam_env module during login, but it only accepts NAME=VALUE pairs and no expansions (like $var or ~/ or $(command) etc.) will be done on the VALUE.