Lab
A Cloud Guru

Command Line Variables

In this hands-on lab, we're going to practice setting and using variables in Bash. Variables are an important part of the command line, as well as writing shell scripts. Becoming familiar and comfortable with environment variables is an important step in using Linux.

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Path Info

Level

Beginner

Duration

30m

Published

Jun 21, 2019

Challenge

Examine the Current `$PATH` Variable
1. List the current environment variables, and locate the $PATH variable.
```
env
```
1. Examine the $PATH variable.
```
echo $PATH
```
Challenge

Append the Path to the `scripts` Directory to the $PATH Variable
1. Since the path to our scripts directory is missing, we need to append it to the $PATH variable. We can do so with the following command:
```
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/scripts/
```
1. We should now be able to run the script without specifying the path to it.
Challenge

Make the New `$PATH` Persist
1. If we log out, we'll lose our ability to run the script without specifying the path. So we need to make our change permanent. We can do so on this Ubuntu 16.04 system by modifying the ~/.profile file.
```
echo 'PATH="$PATH:$HOME/scripts"' >> ~/.profile
```

Author

A Cloud Guru

The Cloud Content team comprises subject matter experts hyper focused on services offered by the leading cloud vendors (AWS, GCP, and Azure), as well as cloud-related technologies such as Linux and DevOps. The team is thrilled to share their knowledge to help you build modern tech solutions from the ground up, secure and optimize your environments, and so much more!

What's a lab?

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.