From: Rolando Abarca <funkaster@...>
Date: 2008-11-14T00:10:01+09:00
Subject: Re: Need tutoring on using a path environment variable

On Nov 13, 2008, at 11:42 AM, Yossef Mendelssohn wrote:

> Maybe you mean ENV['path'] += ENV['PW_PATH'], or maybe you mean
> old_path = ENV['path'].dup

oops... you're right (I always forget about this! I even wrote a  
question about this for the ruby-basic java black belt[1]  
certification test :-P)

> Second, paths have separators, so simply sticking two different path
> strings together is going to make something strange at the join.

yes sir, I skip those on purpose... :-) (it was too late and it was  
the last email I wrote before going to bed. I think that the OP should  
know that PATH is a list of directories that are separated by  
something, or at least he has the notion, so I only provided an idea  
on how to solve his problem, not a complete solution, which, IMHO is  
the best thing, because when you provide a complete solution, most  
people stick to that and don't think too much around it).
Anyway, you should add the path like this:

ENV['PATH'] += ";#{ENV['PW_PATH']}" # just in case ENV['PW_PATH'] is nil

even if PATH has a ";" at the end, it does no harm to have another one.

> Third, I think you mean ENV['PATH'], not ENV['path'].

That's also correct.

> HTH HAND
> --
> -yossef


[1] http://www.javablackbelt.com/QuestionnaireDefDisplay.wwa?questPublicId=01548

regards,
-- 
Rolando Abarca M.