Export path in Bash

Question

What is the difference between:

PATH=$PATH:/Projects/persevere/bin

and

export PATH=$PATH:/Projects/persevere/bin

I think both are working.

Duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1158091/bash-defining-a-variable-with-or-without-export — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Nov 25 '10 at 20:17

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 25 '10 at 20:20

5

The first line does not export the variable (to the environment variables) unless it is already there.

Bash keeps internal variables accessible only by itself, that is, commands you run don't see them.

For example:

internal_var=hello
export external_var=there
env

The env (which lists environment variables) command won't list internal_var but will list external_var

answered Nov 25 '10 at 20:20

Adrian Pronk

5

Actually, in the specific case of PATH, it's already marked for export so there's no difference at all. – Gordon Davisson Nov 26 '10 at 03:22

1 Answers1