Echo %path% on separate lines

Question

Using the Windows command prompt, can I echo %path% and get the resulting paths on separate rows?

Something like this, but for Windows:

echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'

Can I do this with vanilla cmd or do I need PowerShell or JavaScript scripting?

Example echo %path% output:

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\;

Desired output:

C:\WINDOWS\system32;
C:\WINDOWS;
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\;

Related: [An answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/141344/how-to-check-if-a-directory-exists-in-path/8046515#8046515) to *[How to check if a directory exists in %PATH%](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/141344)* deals with all the complications of using simple text parsing for the content of environment variable `path`. — Peter Mortensen, Sep 09 '22 at 14:33

score 154 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 27 '16 at 07:33

154

Try:

 ($env:Path).Replace(';',"`n")

or

$env:path.split(";")

edited Oct 27 '16 at 07:33

DimaSan

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answered Feb 25 '11 at 08:32

Ekkehard.Horner

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What is wrong with the following? powershell -Command ($env:Path).Replace(';',"`n") – Carl R Feb 25 '11 at 09:36
4

PowerShell has `-replace` operator: `$env:Path -replace ';',"`n"` – stej Feb 25 '11 at 11:19
6

Will fail with quoted paths that contain semicolons. – Joey Feb 25 '11 at 23:27
@Joey: What should I do instead then? – Eric Dec 30 '16 at 20:07
@Eric: You could use one of the more complicated regexes used for CSV instead, or use a parser. Or hope that no one uses semicolons in paths that appear in `$Env:PATH` since everyone gets it wrong anyway ... – Joey Dec 31 '16 at 11:34
@Joey: So there's no native way to split the path in the same way as it is done when resolving executables, without resorting to string manipulation? That's just dumb! – Eric Dec 31 '16 at 13:35
@Eric: How frequently do you write scripts that need every item in `$Env:PATH`? I haven't needed that ever so far, and I guess most other people didn't either. – Joey Jan 02 '17 at 19:02
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@Joey: I'm more pointing out that internally there must be an implementation of that for `get-command` to work, so exposing that implementation would be easy – Eric Jan 02 '17 at 21:06
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@stej Use triple backticks: ```$env:Path -replace ';',"`n"``` – wjandrea Apr 03 '17 at 02:11

score 46 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 03 '17 at 08:18

46

Fewer keystrokes using either the split operator or method

$env:Path -split ';'
$env:Path.split(';')

edited Apr 03 '17 at 08:18

wjandrea

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answered Feb 25 '11 at 13:38

Doug Finke

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4

Will fail with quoted paths that contain semicolons. – Joey Feb 25 '11 at 23:28
5

This looks nice with a sort: `($env:Path).Split(";") | Sort-Object` – jrsconfitto Oct 18 '12 at 13:48

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 09 '22 at 14:37

11

This works for me (in a cmd window):

powershell -Command ($env:Path).split(';')

edited Sep 09 '22 at 14:37

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 21 '16 at 09:38

leonardo4it

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Does it work for quoted paths that contain semicolons? – Peter Mortensen Sep 09 '22 at 14:28
@PeterMortensen no. – leonardo4it Sep 12 '22 at 16:33

Echo %path% on separate lines

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