This documents an old version of fish. See the latest release.

fish_add_path - add to the path

Synopsis

fish_add_path [paths...]
fish_add_path (-h | --help)
fish_add_path [(-g | --global) | (-U | --universal) | (-P | --path)] [(-m | --move)] [(-a | --append) | (-p | --prepend)] [(-v | --verbose) | (-n | --dry-run)] [paths...]

Description

fish_add_path is a simple way to add more components to fish's $PATH. It does this by adding the components either to $fish_user_paths or directly to $PATH (if the --path switch is given).

It is (by default) safe to use fish_add_path in config.fish, or it can be used once, interactively, and the paths will stay in future because of universal variables. This is a "do what I mean" style command, if you need more control, consider modifying the variable yourself.

Components are normalized by realpath. This means that trailing slashes are ignored and relative paths are made absolute (but symlinks are not resolved). If a component already exists, it is not added again and stays in the same place unless the --move switch is given.

Components are added in the order they are given, and they are prepended to the path unless --append is given (if $fish_user_paths is used, that means they are last in $fish_user_paths, which is itself prepended to $PATH, so they still stay ahead of the system paths).

If no component is new, the variable ($fish_user_paths or $PATH) is not set again or otherwise modified, so variable handlers are not triggered.

If a component is not an existing directory, fish_add_path ignores it.

Options

  • -a or --append causes the components to be added to the end of the variable

  • -p or --prepend causes the components to be added to the front of the variable (this is the default)

  • -g or --global means to use a global $fish_user_paths

  • -U or --universal means to use a universal $fish_user_paths - this is the default if it doesn't already exist

  • -P or --path means to use $PATH directly

  • -m or --move means to move already existing components to the place they would be added - by default they would be left in place and not added again

  • -v or --verbose means to print the set command used

  • -n or --dry-run means to print the set command that would be used without executing it

If --move is used, it may of course lead to the path swapping order, so you should be careful doing that in config.fish.

Example

# I just installed mycoolthing and need to add it to the path to use it.
> fish_add_path /opt/mycoolthing/bin

# I want my ~/.local/bin to be checked first.
> fish_add_path -m ~/.local/bin

# I prefer using a global fish_user_paths
> fish_add_path -g ~/.local/bin ~/.otherbin /usr/local/sbin

# I want to append to the entire $PATH because this directory contains fallbacks
> fish_add_path -aP /opt/fallback/bin

# I want to add the bin/ directory of my current $PWD (say /home/nemo/)
> fish_add_path -v bin/
set fish_user_paths /home/nemo/bin /usr/bin /home/nemo/.local/bin

# I have installed ruby via homebrew
> fish_add_path /usr/local/opt/ruby/bin