On windows/cygwin, i want to be able save the PATH variable to file on one machine and load it onto the other machine;
for storing the variable i am doing:
echo %PATH% > dat however, not sure how to load it later.
set PATH=??????? Thanks Rami
5 Answers
Just use: set /P PATH=< dat
You must note that echo %PATH% > dat insert an additional space after %PATH% value; that space may cause problems if an additional path is later added to PATH variable. Just eliminate the extra space this way: echo %PATH%> dat.
3 Comments
Russell Gallop
For me this only works for the first 1024 characters of the file. Sorry, I missed the fact this was on cygwin. Maybe it works better under cygwin.
xverges
@RussellGallop, did you find a workaround for this limitation?
Aacini
set /P can only read 1024 characters. To read more, use for /F as shown in SpaceMonkey answer below.echo %PATH% will fail if the PATH contains an unquoted & or ^ (this is not likely, but certainly possible)
A more reliable solution is to use:
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion echo !path!>dat Then you can use Aacini's suggested method of reading the value back in
set /p "PATH=" <dat 
Comments
This might be evil but on Windows I am using this:
for /F %%g in (dat) do set PATH=%%g and this to write the file because I had trouble with spaces
echo>dat %PATH% 
1 Comment
efdummy
You must use the "delims" option if you want to manage spaces: for /F "delims=" %%g in (dat)
Being dependent upon Cygwin, how how about putting the command in your saved file, e.g.:
echo "export PATH=$PATH" > dat Then sourcing the script later to set the path:
. ./dat Note that "sourcing" the script (vs. just executing it) is required for it to modify your current environment - and not just new child environments.
1 Comment
sramij
on windows i had finally to do ' echo set PATH=%PATH% > dat.bat '; thanks
The following sample works even with spaces and dot in the path value:
@REM Backup PATH variable value in a file @REM Set PATHBACKUP variable with value in the file @echo %PATH% > pathvalue.txt @type pathvalue.txt @for /f "delims=" %%l in (pathvalue.txt) do ( @set line=%%l ) @set PATHBACKUP=%line% @echo %PATHBACKUP% 
set /P PATH=< dat