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The PATH variable makes it easy to run commonly used programs located in their own folders. If used unwisely, however, the value of the PATH variable can slow down the operating system by searching too many locations, or invalid locations.
323:) is typically the first directory in the path, followed by many (but not all) of the directories for installed software packages. Many programs do not appear in the path as they are not designed to be executed from a
331:. Some programs may add their directory to the front of the PATH variable's content during installation, to speed up the search process and/or override OS commands. In the DOS era, it was customary to add a
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services from running altogether, especially the 'Server' service which is usually a dependency for other services within a
Windows Server environment.
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When a command is entered in a command shell or a system call is made by a program to execute a program, the system first searches the
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in order to prevent the accidental execution of scripts residing in the current directory, such as may be placed there by a malicious
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and then searches the path, examining each directory from left to right, looking for an
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variable is specified as a list of one or more directory names separated by semicolon (
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variable is specified as a list of one or more directory names separated by colon (
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A Research Unix reader: annotated excerpts from the
Programmer's Manual, 1971–1986
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setting (although this varies from implementation to implementation). The
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that matches the command name. Once found, the program is executed as a
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filename that matches the command name given. Executable programs have
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Dash exec.c as an example of an implementation of a PATH-string parser
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where executable programs are located. In general, each executing
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to be executed directly. System administrators as a rule do
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of the command shell or program that issued the command.
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call is made from a program, the system searches through
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Once a matching executable file is found, the system
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282:When a command name is specified by the user or an
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
231:directories are typically included in most users'
306:On DOS, OS/2, and Windows operating systems, the
469:Open Group Unix Specification, execve() function
170:originated the idea of a search path. The early
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447:(Technical report). CSTR. Bell Labs. 139.
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
319:The Windows system directory (typically
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388:, and batch scripts have extensions of
198:and Unix-like operating systems, the
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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251:commands. The current directory (
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34:needs additional citations for
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247:entries for easily executing
16:Computer environment variable
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491:Microsoft.com, PATH command
414:Invalid locations can also
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366:current working directory
257:current working directory
329:Graphical User Interface
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302:DOS, OS/2, and Windows
147:, specifying a set of
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509:Computer file systems
249:system administration
352:{program directory};
336:{program directory};
327:, but rather from a
275:) or relative path (
126:environment variable
58:"PATH" variable
43:improve this article
374:filename extensions
321:C:\WINDOWS\system32
239:also typically has
190:Unix and Unix-like
145:Microsoft Windows
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41:Please help
36:verification
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277:./script.sh
149:directories
99:August 2014
503:Categories
422:References
370:executable
172:Unix shell
69:newspapers
245:/usr/sbin
237:superuser
178:, but by
130:Unix-like
438:(1987).
357:line to
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225:/usr/bin
184:/usr/bin
269:tarbomb
168:Multics
163:History
153:process
83:scholar
405:spawns
354:%PATH%
338:%PATH%
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288:$ PATH
265:$ PATH
233:$ PATH
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143:, and
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241:/sbin
196:POSIX
90:JSTOR
76:books
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347:PATH
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243:and
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219:The
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176:/bin
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122:PATH
62:news
397:CMD
394:or
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385:COM
382:or
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341:or
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