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Asked: 2026-05-16T23:56:08+00:00

When I echo $PATH on my command line, it returns /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/X11/bin When I execute

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When I echo $PATH on my command line, it returns

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/X11/bin

When I execute this php code

exec('echo $PATH; whoami; less /etc/paths; 2>&1')

I get

string 'echo $PATH; whoami; less /etc/paths; 2>&1' (length=56)
array
  0 => string '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' (length=29)
  1 => string 'eric' (length=4)
  2 => string '/usr/bin' (length=8)
  3 => string '/bin' (length=4)
  4 => string '/usr/sbin' (length=9)
  5 => string '/sbin' (length=5)
  6 => string '/usr/local/bin' (length=14)
  7 => string '/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin' (length=30)
  8 => string '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' (length=29)

This is on Mac OS X. Can anyone tell me why my last two path elements are missing?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Environment variables on Mac OS X are set by differing mechanisms depending on how your code, or its parent process, was launched. To insure that items launched from an interactive shell and items launched by the WindowServer have the same path, you need to keep ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist in sync with what is set in .profile (or .cshrc).

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