Question

I have windows, using Cygwin, trying to set JAVA_HOME permanently through my .bashrc file.

.bashrc:

export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH"  
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME:"/cygdrive/c/Program Files (x86)/Java/jdk1.7.0_05"

.bash_profile:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
   source ~/.bashrc
fi

running cygwin:

-bash: $'\377\376if': command not found
-bash: $'then\r': command not found
: No such file or directorysu//.bashrc
-bash: /cygdrive/c/Users/jhsu//.bash_profile: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
-bash: /cygdrive/c/Users/jhsu//.bash_profile: line 3: `fi'

I am not sure if I took the commands from a tutorial that was meant for another system or if I am missing a step. Or whitespace is causing my commands not to run properly.

I’ve looked at multiple similar questions but I haven’t found one where the question has my error exactly.

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My home path:

$ echo $HOME
/cygdrive/c/Users/jhsu
$ echo ~
/cygdrive/c/Users/jhsu/

So I believe the files should be placed in the correct spot.

Answer 1

When all else fails in Cygwin…

Try running the dos2unix command on the file in question.

It might help when you see error messages like this:

-bash: '\r': command not found

Windows style newline characters can cause issues in Cygwin.

The dos2unix command modifies newline characters so they are Unix / Cygwin compatible.

CAUTION: the dos2unix command modifies files in place, so take precaution if necessary.

If you need to keep the original file, you should back it up first.

Note for Mac users: The dos2unix command does not exist on Mac OS X.

Check out this answer for a variety of solutions using different tools.

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There is also a unix2dos command that does the reverse:

It modifies Unix newline characters so they’re compatible with Windows tools.

If you open a file with Notepad and all the lines run together, try unix2dos filename.