Git Bash command not found after installing a package

Question

I'm using msysgit on Windows, whenever I install something ie Node.js or a package via NPM I always get command not found until the system is rebooted. Even closing git bash and reopening I have the same issue. I've set environment paths for npm and node:

C:\Ruby200\bin;C:\Python27;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Users\Predator\AppData\Roaming\npm

Edit:

For example using Git Bash window I have Node.Js and NPM installed. I want to install a package globally so run:

npm install grunt -g

Grunt then installs globally, I then check grunt is installed by running

grunt --version

Error produced is:

sh: grunt: command not found

This happens with all NPM packages, it even happened with node.js and npm when I installed them. How can I restart Git Bash to take into account the newly installed packages?

Answer 1

To add say C:\\Program Files\\nodejs to the path inside the shell, you would issue:

PATH="C:/Program\ Files/nodejs;$PATH"
export PATH

in some shells you can combine those two commands in one:

export PATH="C:/Program\ Files/nodejs;$PATH"

to look to see what folders are currently searched:

echo $PATH

You may be able to get the shell to reread the environment giving the -l option when you run the shell. See what your shell is by running:

echo $SHELL

If you get something, then try running:

$SHELL -l 

which starts another login shell. However better is to use:

exec $SHELL -l

which starts a new shell replacing the old one. Without "exec" you'll have the new shell nested inside the old one, which might not be so bad.