pad-path

Intuitively modify your $PATH.

Installation

Windows (via Scoop)

# add the bucket containing pad-path's manifest
scoop bucket add jrhawley https://gitlab.com/jrhawley/scoop-bucket

# install
scoop install pad-path

Nix

nix profile install gitlab:jrhawley/pad-path

Build from source (via Cargo)

# directly from crates.io
cargo install pad-path

# or, equivalently, after downloading the code repo
git clone https://gitlab.com/jrhawley/pad-path
cd pad-path
cargo install --path .

Usage

Intuitively modify your `$PATH`

USAGE:
    pad [SUBCOMMAND]

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

SUBCOMMANDS:
    add       Add a directory
    clean     Remove duplicates and non-existent directories [aliases: dedup]
    dn        Decrease priority for a directory [aliases: down, dec]
    help      Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    ls        List the directories in PATH [aliases: echo]
    revert    Revert to a previous version of PATH [aliases: undo]
    rm        Remove a directory [aliases: del]
    up        Increase priority for a directory [aliases: inc]

It would be convenient, but insecure, to have pad-path modify the shell's environment variables directly. Instead, pad-path prints out what the new $PATH will look like, and the user can set it as the value for $PATH, or pipe it to another command.

Examples

In Bash, an example workflow is below.

# display your current $PATH
> pad ls
/folder/to/remove
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin
/sbin
/bin
/usr/games
/usr/local/games
/snap/bin

# preview what $PATH would look like if you remove the first folder
> pad rm /folder/to/remove
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin
/sbin
/bin
/usr/games
/usr/local/games
/snap/bin

# set the new $PATH
> export PATH=$(pad rm /folder/to/remove)

# see that the new path is set
> echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin
/sbin
/bin
/usr/games
/usr/local/games
/snap/bin

Similarly, in PowerShell, you can assign the output of a pad-path command to $Env:Path.

# check the value of $Env:Path
> pad ls
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH
C:\Program Files\dotnet

# add a new variable to $Env:Path
> $Env:Path = (pad add "C:\Program Files\new_dir")

# check that the folder has been added correctly
> pad ls
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH
C:\Program Files\dotnet
C:\Program Files\new_dir