On Fri, 2011-11-11 at 07:33 -0600, Usurp wrote: > Having '.' and $HOME in $PATH can lead to subtle failures, > if you create a file that has the same name as an existing command. > > Simple example: the updatedb command from mlocate > That is why, if you're wise, you always run 'which' to check check whether the script/program name you just thought up is going to clash with anything else. Its also why I said "add them to the right hand end", as in: export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin:." $PATH is searched left to right, so doing it this way guarantees that pre-existing stuff takes precedence over anything you wrote without first checking for name clashes. Martin
