How to reset Bash on Mac OSX, .bash_profile corrupted and bash no longer works
I am on a MacBook Pro, running the latest version of Mountain Lion.
I really need some help, I have managed some how to damage my .bash_profile (I think) so that every time I open up the terminal I get the error listed below.
-bash: export: `/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/go/bin': not a valid identifier
-bash: export: `/Users/rob/Applications/sbt/bin:': not a valid identifier
env: bash: No such file or directory
env: bash: No such file or directory
env: bash: No such file or directory
env: bash: No such file or directory
env: bash: No such file or directory
-bash: tar: command not found
-bash: grep: command not found
-bash: cat: command not found
-bash: find: command not foundI am not sure what has happened, I have no sudo, cd or any normal commands. The only way I have been able to get to any of the main directories is through the go to folder command in finder and try to find the file to no avail.
To top it all off I think I created a file that might be causing the issue, I wanted to edit the .bash_profile so I typed
sudo nano ./bash_profileThis open a new file in nano which I think was then saved. After this I opened the real .bash_profile to add in the path for node.js.
If I can get to the .bash_profile I think I can get it back on track but I can't find it, should I reinstall bash? If so how would I do that on a mac, I tried using
brew install bashto which I get
-bash: brew: command not found6 Answers
Just putting all my comments together for an answer:
First thing you should do is change the shell, this way you can set a shell that will not load the bash init-scripts (.bashrc, .bash_profile) - how to do this for the Mac OS X terminal app can be seen here: Apple Support
Now you should be able to open a terminal again and use your favourite command-line editor to open the .bash_profile file (e.g. nano or vi):
In this file you have to reset your PATH variable that is used by the terminal to find the programs it can execute.
This can be done with the following two lines:
PATH="/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH" # Make sure to use double quotes not single quotes And on a new line
export PATHThis will first set the directories that you want to have on your PATH and the export this PATH to make it available to all programs started from this shell (via export).
⇧⌘. shows hidden files in file dialogs. You could try opening ~/.bash_profile with TextEdit and making it blank temporarily.
2I was running on the same problem, and I just found simpler solution:
/usr/bin/nano .bash_profile
delete all your mess, then save the file
2I know this is an old thread but just wanted to leave here my solution in the hope someone else happens to have the same issue.
When I ran terminal from MacOS it was ok with my own user, but when changed to sudo it couldn't work (command not found).
I ended up fixing it with:
nano ~/.bashrcJust removed the path that was causing the error. Restarted the terminal and everything is working fine now.
I discovered recently that DOS style files cause problems for both .bash* scripts in OS-X. I have to use DOS file endings for some code shared with Windows users, so if I edit .bash_profile while in that git repo I get lots of error messages when running the script (at login). The utility dos2unix fixed it.
In addition to the previously mentioned showing of hidden files and using a text editor, there is also an easier way to open a new shell without changing your default shell. You could alt-click the Terminal app and choose "New Command...". Then type "sh" into the dialog and run that. This would open a non-bash shell and you could edit the file there. In the future it would be a good idea to keep a shell open or test running the new .bash_profile prior to exiting.
