Making softwares usable across all directories

Question

[Inquisitive8995]

Hi, I have downloaded Velvet software from the EMBL website. The folder is now in my Desktop. I want to access the software from all the other directories also. Do I just transfer just the executable file of velvet to the /bin folder or is there any other way to do this? Thanks for your help.

[Pierre Lindenbaum]

"What is a path ?": http://www.linfo.org/path_env_var.html

Answer 1

[ATpoint]

There is a concept in Linux, named PATH.

Just write the following into your ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/velvet_folder_that_contains_the_executable

After then running source ~/.bash_profile, simply entering the name of the executable is sufficient to call the program.

[Inquisitive8995]

Thanks for your answer ! This works. So, if I have different software in different directories, can I still use the variable $PATH or should I modify it every time ?

[ATpoint]

You can pass as many directories to PATH as you like, or alternatively, copy the executables to a common directory where you collect all your executables, like /usr/bin/ or something like $HOME/local/bin

[Inquisitive8995]

Okay ! Thanks for your help.