Hi,
I want to know the default precedence of PATH variable (esp in HP Unix).
is /usr/local/bin having higher precedence or /usr/bin?
which tar is better to use /usr/local/bin/tar or /usr/bin/tar?

Run
command on your prompt to see contents in PATH variable.The shell searches the PATH in order.
/bin:/usr/local:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin
/bin has higher precedence..and so on.

thanks for reply, but i want to know what is defect precedence between /usr/local/bin and /usr/bin as per unix standard. because i have 2 different env with different precedence and tar is different in both these bins.

There is no standard default precedence. Every Unix based OS have their own PATH preferences. Typically /bin will have higher precedence than the /usr/bin which in turn will have a higher precedence that /usr/local/bin. In order to find out what is the value of the PATH variable in your case you can type the following command at your shell prompt.

The directory which appears first in the list will have the higher precedence.

Here is some story on using command from diferent path ---
I am not agree on precedence of path ,It is all how your OS is (64 bit/32 bit) and how your file system size.

Example --
I have ls , and rm command in /bin directory also in /usr/bin directory

If you will try to remove a file or list a file which is more then 2GB with simple using the ls or rm command you wont be able to do that if your path sequence is /bin:/usr/bin

Your command will fail.

But when the sequence will /usr/bin:/bin
the command will work ?

Reason : --- Command from /usr/bin directory are large file aware and can access size more then 2^31 -1
While command of /bin directory can access a file size of max 2^31-1 size that is around 2GB not more then that.


It all depend your requirement and put the file in PATH for precedence .

Hope you got some idea