Re: [50 character or so descriptive subject here (for reference)]

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Phil Benchoff wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 28, 2002 at 08:47:29AM -0500, Chet Ramey wrote:
> > > Machine Type: i586-mandrake-linux-gnu
> > >
> > > Bash Version: 2.05
> > > Patch Level: 1
> > > Release Status: release
> > >
> > > Description:
> > >   :: on path causes cwd to be searched for executables, i.e. ::
> > >   in the path acts like :.:
> >
> > This is not a bug.  This is how Bourne-style shells have always behaved.
>
> Thanks for the reply.  That is kind of an unfortunate behavior.  It
> ended up on my path via an assortment of startup scripts that do
> things like
>
>     PATH=$PATH:/some/new/dir
>       or
>     PATH=/some/new/dir:$PATH
>
> Anyway, I'll figure out where I'm getting it from and fix it.
>
> You may want to consider a builtin function that will remove :: from the
> path or maybe one that will prevent the current directory from being
> searched even if it is on the path.

It's easy to remove them:

        PATH=${PATH//::/:}

A leading or trailing colon will also add the current directory to
your path. Remove them with:

        PATH=${PATH%:}
        PATH=${PATH#:}

Or you could use a function to add new directories to your path;
I use this (with some embellishments):

        addpath ()
        {
            path="${PATH//:/
}";

            for p in "$@"
            do
                case $path in
                    *$p*)
                        echo "$p already in path" >&2
                        return 1
                    ;;
                esac
                if [ -d "$p" ]
                then
                    PATH="$PATH:$p"
                else
                    echo "addpath: $p is not a directory" >&2
                    return 1
                fi
            done
        }

-- 
        Chris F.A. Johnson                              bq933@torfree.net
        =================================================================
        c.f.a.johnson@rogers.com                http://cfaj.freeshell.org
        cfaj@freeshell.org        http://members.rogers.com/c.f.a.johnson