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I want to create a command that runs an executable created by compiling a c program. I couldn't find a proper solution. Let's say I have a file named myprogram.c and compile it and have myprogram as . I want to type myprogram in any folder in my system and run it. How can I achieve this?

user3616495
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  • Does it work if you type `./myprogram` into the command line? – Dylan Kirkby Dec 31 '15 at 00:22
  • Yes, but I don't want to type `./`. I want to be able to run it from any folder, just like `ls` or `pwd`. – user3616495 Dec 31 '15 at 00:23
  • Add the directory `.` to the end of your `PATH` environment variable so it looks like `:.` – Dylan Kirkby Dec 31 '15 at 00:25
  • @DylanKirkby - or, perhaps, *don't* do that, and save yourself confusion and risk. Sometimes the best answer is "that's a really bad idea, don't do that, find another way." If you can suggest that other way, perhaps you get upvoted. :) – ghoti Dec 31 '15 at 00:39

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You have to add it in your PATH from your shell rc file

Gilles Quénot
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First find out what your PATH is

echo $PATH

For you this outputs

/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R‌​‌​6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin

Then assuming your program is in the /usr/myprog directory, append /usr/myprog to your PATH (don't forget to separate directories with a colon :)

export PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R‌​‌​6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/myprog

Doing this tells the system when you don't specify an absolute path (like ./myprogram) to look in all the directories in PATH. It is good to add the absolute path of your executable to PATH because adding . to your PATH is frowned upon by some (see this question).

Community
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Dylan Kirkby
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  • Minix is a bit weird. My path is `/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin` which is hard to understand. Also I assume in Minix the .bashrc file is .shrc but I am not so sure about it. By the way my program is under the `/usr/myprog` folder. – user3616495 Dec 31 '15 at 00:38
  • So change it to `/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/pkg/sbin:/usr/pkg/bin/usr/X11R7/bin:usr/X11R‌​6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/myprog` – Dylan Kirkby Dec 31 '15 at 00:39
  • `PATH` is simple enough to understand, it is just a set of unix directories separated by colons. Yours includes `/sbin`, `/usr/local/bin` and a few others. – Dylan Kirkby Dec 31 '15 at 00:40
  • Well I guess it was simple enough. Working now. Also, the `.bashrc` equivalent of Minix is under the /root folder named `.shrc` in case anyone needs it in future. Thanks. – user3616495 Dec 31 '15 at 00:46
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You place the executable into a directory that your shell already searches for programs, or you add your program's location to that list.

the $PATH environment variable contains this information. You can add myProgram's location to it, i.e. export PATH=$PATH:/new/dir, or just print out $PATH and copy myProgram into one of the paths listed there already.

Erik Nyquist
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