how can I get rid of of “./” when i run a program in ubuntu terminal?

Question

I heard I need to edit either my path in either .profile or .bashrc .

For example, instead of having to run a script or the output of a c++ program like "./a.out" , I just want to be able to type "a.out" ?

Answer 1

Your program needs to be in one of the paths specified in your search path.

So you if your program is located in my_directory :

 export PATH=$PATH:my_directory 

This can be added to your .profile / .bashrc

It often makes sense to put your executables in standard Unix folders such as /usr/local/bin (already in the $PATH )

Note:

• See here for a discussion about adding the current directory ( . ) to your $PATH