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I have anaconda set up with a few different environments. When I switch environments and open vim 8.2 and type :term to launch a terminal window and type echo $PATH, $PATH does not match what is shown in a terminal outside of vim. If instead just type :!echo $PATH, it is correct

getting path from the terminal outside of vim:

(tensorflow_p36) ubuntu@ip-172-31-50-75:~$ echo $PATH
/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow_p36/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/condabin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/home/ubuntu/.dl_binaries/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/aws/neuron/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/amazon/openmpi/bin:/opt/amazon/efa/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

getting path using :! echo $PATH from vim command mode (matches $PATH above):

/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow_p36/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/condabin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/home/ubuntu/.dl_binaries/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/aws/neuron/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/amazon/openmpi/bin:/opt/amazon/efa/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

Press ENTER or type command to continue

Opening a terminal window within vim and checking $PATH (first 11 directories are duplicates that appear later in $PATH):

(tensorflow_p36) ubuntu@ip-172-31-50-75:~$ echo $PATH                                                                                                                                          
/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/home/ubuntu/.dl_binaries/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/aws/neuron/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow_p36/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/condabin:/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/home/ubuntu/.dl_binaries/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/aws/neuron/bin:/usr/local/cuda/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/aws/bin:/usr/local/mpi/bin:/opt/amazon/openmpi/bin:/opt/amazon/efa/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

Trying to understand why $PATH within a vim terminal window has additional directories prepended...

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  • Open a normal terminal with your anaconda setup. Then just execute bash (or whatever shell you use). How does the PATH look like.
    – Ralf
    Jul 14, 2020 at 22:12
  • interesting... looks the same as the last one I listed, from opening a terminal window in vim and checking PATH
    – froxset
    Jul 14, 2020 at 22:22
  • There are some relatively tricky rules around what files are used to initialize bash and when. To get a taste man bash and find the section named INVOCATION. It's also possible to configure vim to do something different on top of that (e.g. with the various 'shell*' settings). I don't know much about Anaconda but that might be adding additional variables to the mix. So your question as posed has more than one possible answer.
    – B Layer
    Jul 14, 2020 at 23:27

1 Answer 1

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I don't know the "anaconda setup", but assume it is included in your shells configuration files (like .bashrc). It seems to manipulate the PATH environment variable.

When you open a terminal from within Vim a second instance of the shell is started, causing a manipulation of the PATH that was already manipulated. Hence the different value of PATH.

If this behavior is a problem, you can change your shell configuration to not repeat the anaconda stuff if it was already done.

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  • that makes sense, thanks. I'll look in to fixing that.
    – froxset
    Jul 14, 2020 at 22:56

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