Edit the appropriate shell startup file. Under Windows NT-based systems, another alternative is to use the System control panel.
The shell or command interpreter you use to run programs from the
command-line prompt includes an environment in which you can store
variable values. Some of these variables are used by the shell
itself. For example, it uses PATH
to determine
which directories to look in for programs such as
mysql. Other variables are used by other programs
(such as PERL5LIB
, which tells Perl where to look
for library files used by Perl scripts).
Your shell determines the syntax used to set environment variables, as well as the startup file in which to place the settings. Typical startup files for various shells are shown in the following table. If you’ve never looked through your shell’s startup files, it’s a good idea to do so to familiarize yourself with their contents.
Shell |
Possible startup files |
---|---|
csh, tcsh |
|
sh, bash, ksh |
|
DOS prompt |
|
The following examples show how to set the PATH
variable so that it includes the directory where the
mysql program is installed. The examples assume
there is an existing PATH
setting in one of your
startup files. If you have no PATH
setting
currently, simply add the appropriate line or lines to one of the
files.
Tip
If you’re reading this section because
you’ve been referred here from another chapter,
you’ll probably be more interested in changing some
variable other than PATH
. The instructions are
similar because you use the same syntax.
The PATH
variable lists the pathnames for one or
more directories. If an environment variable’s value
consists of multiple pathnames, it’s conventional
under Unix to separate them using the colon character
(:
). Under Windows, pathnames may contain colons,
so the separator is the semicolon character ( ;
).
To set the value of PATH
, use the instructions
that pertain to your shell:
For csh or tcsh, look for a
setenv
PATH
command in your startup files, then add the appropriate directory to the line. Suppose your search path is set by a line like this in your.login
file:setenv PATH /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
If mysql is installed in
/usr/local/mysql/bin
, add that directory to the search path by changing thesetenv
line to look like this:setenv PATH /usr/local/mysql/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
It’s also possible that your path will be set with
set
path
, which uses different syntax:set path = (/usr/local/mysql/bin /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin)
For a shell in the Bourne shell family such as sh, bash, or ksh, look in your startup files for a line that sets up and exports the
PATH
variable:export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
The assignment and the export might be on separate lines:
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin export PATH
Change the setting to this:
export PATH=/usr/local/mysql/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
Or:
PATH=/usr/local/mysql/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin export PATH
Under Windows, check for a line that sets the
PATH
variable in yourAUTOEXEC.BAT
file. It might look like this:PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
Or like this:
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
Change the
PATH
value to include the directory where mysql is installed. If this isC:\mysql\bin
, the resultingPATH
setting looks like this:PATH=C:\mysql\bin;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
Or:
SET PATH=C:\mysql\bin;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
Under Windows NT-based systems, another way to change the
PATH
value is to use the System control panel (use its Environment or Advanced tab, whichever is present). In other versions of Windows, you can use the Registry Editor application. Unfortunately, the name of the Registry Editor key that contains the path value seems to vary among versions of Windows. For example, on the Windows machines that I use, the key has one name under Windows Me and a different name under Windows 98; under Windows 95, I couldn’t find the key at all. It’s probably simpler just to editAUTOEXEC.BAT
.
After setting an environment variable, you’ll need
to cause the modification to take effect. Under Unix, you can log out
and log in again. Under Windows, if you set PATH
using the System control panel, you can simply open a new DOS window.
If you edited AUTOEXEC.BAT
instead, restart the
machine.
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