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I installed a text editor under /usr/share/my-editor/editor-executable.

When I want to launch the editor in terminal I have to write the complete path:

# /usr/share/my-editor/editor-executable file-to-open

I would create a command for the editor so I can simply digit:

# my-editor file-to-open

How can I do?

admdrew
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g3k0
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2 Answers2

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The reason you couldn't launch your executable is because the shell look for the command in any of the paths defined in the PATH environment variable (known paths from now). You can check those known paths with:

echo $PATH

As you can see, /usr/bin is defined there as well as other paths.

Anyway, you can get what you want in several ways.

Note below that when I use the ~ directory, the command will be only available for the current user.

Creating an alias my-editor

This is my favourite when you want to run a command which is not found in the known paths. It would be a good idea for you too. In bash you can place the alias in ~/.bash_aliases.

echo alias my-editor=/usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable >> ~/.bash_aliases

Creating a link to your file in some of the known paths

It's the way you have done it and just to clarify, if you had created the link in any of the known paths, it would have worked too.

ln -s /usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable /usr/bin/my-editor

Defining a function with name my-editor

I think it's too much due to your needs but it's up to you if want to give it a try. It can be useful for other purposes.
You must define it in a file read by your shell. e.g. ~/.bashrc in bash. Shell files invocation.

cat >> ~/.bashrc << "EOF"
function my-editor() {
    /usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable "$@"
}
EOF

Adding /usr/share/my-editor/ to the PATH

You can add a new path to the PATH variable. In Ubuntu, the PATH variable is generally set in /etc/environment and if you modify this file, the new path will be accesible for all users.

However, if you want to be the only one who has access to the new path, you can set it in one of the personal shell files. e.g. in bash: ~/.bashrc. Shell files invocation.

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/usr/share/my-editor/"' >> ~/.bashrc

[bash] Entering a command into the hash table

A singular way to get the same result in bash is adding my-editor into the shell hash table. Again, you must add the command in some file read by bash (~/.bashrc).

echo 'hash -p /usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable my-editor' >> ~/.bashrc

Moving the executable to a known path

Finally, if you don't need the file (my-editor-executable) in his current directory anymore, you can simply move it to a known path.

mv /usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable /usr/bin/my-editor
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whoan
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0

I answer by myself:

I created a link to executable file under /usr/bin :

# ln -sF /usr/share/my-editor/my-editor-executable   /usr/bin/my-editor

Now it is possible to run the application "my-editor" via terminal everywhere in the file system

g3k0
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