Shell Programming and Scripting

Hello,

I have the following command at the "Shell":

export PATH=${PATH}:${ANT_HOME}/bin

I know what "export" does and the ANT_HOME part. But, regarding the following part:

${PATH}

What is "PATH" Supposed to be here. In other words, what is the value of "PATH".

As far as for ANT_HOME, I know its value since I've setup that value (ANT path), but just wondering about PATH.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

${PATH} is the current value of the PATH variable; the default is typically "/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin".

Why you have to think much, print that and check.

Code:

echo $PATH

Just to add up to that, PATH is a system variable, which is assigned by the system, and is available through out, while your ANT_HOME is a user variable, initialized and assigned by you and its scope depends on the way you have initialized it..

Hi,

PATH refers to the locations where your command/script will be searched for execution.
if your script/command doesn't lie in the PATH you have to give the absolute path of the same.
exporting path, as you have done, adds ANT_HOME to the variable PATH. so your commands/scripts will also be looked up here for execution.

cheers