Registering commands

[Punk_Rocker_22]

When I type

firefox

into terminal I want it to execute

/usr/bin/firefox/firefox

How do I register this command?

[Prometheum]

Add /usr/bin/firefox to your $PATH variable. When you type a program name into the shell, it searches the folders in that variable and stops when it hits the first one. Typically, it looks like this:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

Possibly different. That's my Ubuntu system, this is my Gentoo system:

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.2

This is my FreeBSD system:

/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/*****/bin

What you need to do is add a line like

export $PATH = "/usr/bin/firefox:$PATH"

in your .bashrc.

[Punk_Rocker_22]

I tried adding

export $PATH = "/usr/bin/firefox:$PATH"

and

PATH =$PATH/usr/bin/firefox
export PATH

to .bashrc, .bash_profile, and /etc/profile

no luck

When I tried

PATH =$PATH/usr/bin/firefox

in terminal it worked until I closed the window and reopened it

[Prometheum]

You'll need to close and open a new shell before it takes effect, or do

source ~/.bashrc

[Fate]

A slightly more braindead but perhaps less annoying way to do it might be just to create a symlink to /usr/bin/firefox/firefox called "firefox." Just stick it somewhere that's in your collection of $PATH places, like /usr/bin. Done.

That way you don't have to keep track of whatever gack you've had to add to your path variable, especially if you find yourself executing many programs from nonstandard locations.

Back when I started messing with Linux I made a symlink to ls called "dir," for when my ingrained DOS reflexes got the better of me.

[Punk_Rocker_22]

Thank you Prometheum, I got it working. And Fate, that's a clever idea. I think I'll start doing that.

[coroner]

Actually instead of modifying your path for any particular purpose, like executing a single command, instead of having access to many binaries or shell scripts, you can set an alias.

Look at the alias manual page, it is part of /bin/bash:

alias [-p] [name[=value] ...]
Alias with no arguments or with the -p option prints the list of
aliases in the form alias name=value on standard output. When
arguments are supplied, an alias is defined for each name whose
value is given. A trailing space in value causes the next word
to be checked for alias substitution when the alias is expanded.
For each name in the argument list for which no value is sup-
plied, the name and value of the alias is printed. Alias
returns true unless a name is given for which no alias has been
defined.

[coroner]

Instead of modifying your path for any particular purpose like having access to a directory of binaries or shell scripts, you can set an alias for a single commmand.
Take a look at the manual page for alias, it is part of /bin/bash manual page:

alias [-p] [name[=value] ...]
Alias with no arguments or with the -p option prints the list of
aliases in the form alias name=value on standard output. When
arguments are supplied, an alias is defined for each name whose
value is given. A trailing space in value causes the next word
to be checked for alias substitution when the alias is expanded.
For each name in the argument list for which no value is sup-
plied, the name and value of the alias is printed. Alias
returns true unless a name is given for which no alias has been
defined.

[Prometheum]

Originally Posted by Fate

A slightly more braindead but perhaps less annoying way to do it might be just to create a symlink to /usr/bin/firefox/firefox called "firefox." Just stick it somewhere that's in your collection of $PATH places, like /usr/bin. Done.

That way you don't have to keep track of whatever gack you've had to add to your path variable, especially if you find yourself executing many programs from nonstandard locations.

Back when I started messing with Linux I made a symlink to ls called "dir," for when my ingrained DOS reflexes got the better of me.

Note that if you do this, the standard place for site-local stuff is in /usr/local.

[Fate]

I thought it was /usr/local/bin? /usr/local isn't part of the default $PATH arrangement in Ubuntu, for instance, but /usr/local/bin is.

Go figure.