"not a valid identifier" when I do "export $PATH"

When I run export $PATH in bash, I get the error not a valid identifier. Why?

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Answers:

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Method 1

Running export $PATH will try to export a variable with a name equal to the value of $PATH (after word splitting). That is, it’s equivalent to writing something like export /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin. And since /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin is not a valid variable name, it fails. What you want to do is export PATH.

export (equivalent to declare -x) in Bash simply makes the variable available to subshells.

To print the value of a variable safely and readably, use printf %q "$PATH".

Method 2

The following command export $PATH=somePath will return not a valid identifier and that is because of the $ before the PATH variable.

solution:

export PATH=somePath

Method 3

You should use it this way:

export PATH=$PATH:/something/bin

Instead of:

export $PATH=$PATH:/something/bin

just remove the $ sign from the left hand side.

Method 4

You probably had a need to append a $PATH to your existing PATH variable ?

export PATH=$PATH:/something/bin

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0

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