# Run It from Anywhere: ~/bin on Your PATH

Copy a finished script into ~/bin without its .sh, put ~/bin on your PATH, and it runs by name from any folder like any other command, as long as the paths inside it work from anywhere and its name isn't already taken, which type checks.

Apprentice · Unix · Linux · Updated November 10, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Put your own scripts in ~/bin on your PATH so they run by name from any folder, with paths inside them that work from anywhere
- Choose a script name that doesn't clash with an existing command, checking it with type, and drop the .sh

## Key takeaways

- A script runs in the folder you're in, not the folder it's saved in, so a path like todo.txt breaks elsewhere. Write ~/terminal-practice/morning/todo.txt instead.
- ~/bin is the usual folder for your own commands. Copy a script there without its .sh, and on your PATH it runs by name from anywhere.
- Ubuntu's ~/.profile adds ~/bin to PATH in every new terminal once the folder exists. On a Mac, add the line to ~/.zshrc.
- Before you use a name, type checks it isn't taken. A script called test never runs, because the shell's own test comes first.

Your morning script works, but only from its own folder, and typing `~/terminal-practice/morning/morning.sh` every morning is no shortcut. You want to open a terminal, type `morning`, and have it run, the way `ls` and `date` do. That's what turns a script into a command of your own, and it's how developers and administrators keep the dozens of small tools they rely on a word away.

## A script runs where you are

Start from your home folder and run the script by its full path:

```bash
cd ~
~/terminal-practice/morning/morning.sh
```

```text
Good morning, sam!
Today is Monday, November 09.

To do:
cat: todo.txt: No such file or directory

Free disk space:
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdd       1007G   31G  926G   4% /
```

Everything worked except the list. A script runs in the folder *you're* in, not the folder it's saved in, so `cat todo.txt` looked for `todo.txt` in your home folder. It's like leaving a note that says "the key is in the drawer" without saying which room.

The fix is a path that works from anywhere: one that starts with `~` (*Moving Around: cd, .. and ~*). Open the script in nano and change the `cat` line to this:

```bash
cat ~/terminal-practice/morning/todo.txt
```

Run it again from your home folder, and the list is back:

```bash
~/terminal-practice/morning/morning.sh | head -n 7
```

```text
Good morning, sam!
Today is Monday, November 09.

To do:
pay the phone bill
finish the history essay
buy coffee beans
```

## ~/bin: a folder for your own commands

*PATH: How a Command Is Found* showed that the shell finds a command by searching the folders on your `PATH`. So give your scripts a folder of their own and put it on the list. The usual name is `~/bin`, read "home bin", short for *binaries*, the old word for programs:

```bash
mkdir -p ~/bin
cp ~/terminal-practice/morning/morning.sh ~/bin/morning
ls -l ~/bin
```

```text
total 4
-rwxr-xr-x 1 sam sam 290 Nov  9 06:09 morning
```

The copy is called `morning`, without `.sh`. Nobody types `ls.sh`: a command's name is what you type, and the ending only matters to editors. `cp` kept the `x`, so it may run. Now put `~/bin` on your `PATH` and try it from anywhere:

```bash
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
which morning
cd /tmp
morning | head -n 3
```

```text
/home/sam/bin/morning
Good morning, sam!
Today is Monday, November 09.
```

`morning`, from any folder, by name. When you change `morning.sh` later, copy it into `~/bin` again, or link it instead with `ln -s` (*Shortcuts to Files: ln -s*) so `~/bin` always runs the latest.

## Keep it on your PATH

The `export` line lasts until you close the window. On Ubuntu you don't need to add it anywhere: Ubuntu's own `~/.profile` already has these lines, which put `~/bin` at the front of `PATH` whenever the folder exists:

```bash
grep -A 2 'HOME/bin"' ~/.profile
```

```text
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
```

`~/.profile` runs when you sign in. In WSL, every new Ubuntu tab signs in, so open a new tab and `morning` works there. On Ubuntu's desktop, sign out and back in once.

On a Mac, zsh doesn't read `~/.profile`. Back up `~/.zshrc`, add this line at the end, and open a new window (*Startup Files: .bashrc, .zshrc and source*):

```bash
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
```

## Names that don't clash

`~/bin` comes first on `PATH`, so a script there wins over a program with the same name. But aliases, functions and the shell's own builtins come before `PATH` altogether. Before you name a script, ask `type` what the name already means:

```bash
type test
type morning
type evening
```

```text
test is a shell builtin
morning is /home/sam/bin/morning
bash: type: evening: not found
```

`not found` means the name is free. `test` is taken, by a **shell builtin**, and this is what happens to a script with that name:

```bash
cp ~/bin/morning ~/bin/test
test
type -a test
rm ~/bin/test
```

```text
test is a shell builtin
test is /home/sam/bin/test
test is /usr/bin/test
test is /bin/test
```

`test` printed nothing: bash ran its own builtin, and your script never started. `type -a` lists every `test` in the order the shell checks them, and yours isn't first. A few habits that avoid this:

- **Check with `type` first**, and pick a name that says `not found`.
- **Use lowercase and hyphens**, such as `morning` or `backup-photos`, never spaces.
- **Drop the `.sh`** on the copy in `~/bin`, and keep it on the file you edit.

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

A folder on your `PATH`, a name nobody else uses, and paths that work from anywhere: your script is now a command, as much a part of your computer as `ls`.

## Key terms

- [PATH](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/path-unix)
- [~/bin](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/bin)
- [Shell Builtin](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/shell-builtin)
- [File Extension](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/file-extension)

## Cheat sheets

- [Run It from Anywhere: ~/bin on Your PATH](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/bash-scripts-on-your-path-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Your First Script](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-your-first-script)
- [PATH: How a Command Is Found](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-path)
- [Startup Files: .bashrc, .zshrc and source](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-startup-files)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-scripts-on-your-path