find-any-dotfiles-that-modify-path-env-var.md

Find Any Dotfiles That Modify Path Env Var

Whether you are using zsh, bash, or some other shell, there are a variety of dotfiles where you can place statements to update the PATH env var. These files don't all run in the same contexts and it can be tricky to debug if one is clobbering the path set by another.

One way to audit how your PATH gets set and track down any issues is to find any place where the path may be getting modified in your dotfiles.

I like to use rg (ripgrep) for tasks like this.

First, I want to check where the PATH is explicitly modified.

$ rg 'export PATH' ~/\.* --max-depth 0

This looks at all instances of dotfiles in my home directory where export PATH appears. That should catch the majority of ways that it gets updated.

Next, because I am using zsh as my shell, I want to look for another way my path might be set. zsh defaults to setting up path as proxy for PATH that acts as an array.

I check for any instances of path= or path+= in my dotfiles:

$ rg 'path\+?=' ~/\.* --max-depth 0

Note that the --max-depth 0 is really important for both because otherwise a ton of irrelevant stuff buried in deeply-nested dot-directories will be surfaced.

If you want just a file name summary of the results, tack on a -l flag.