scp error when defining a “PATH” variable in a bash script

Question

So this is my script

#!/bin/bash
PATH=/SomeFolder/file2.txt;     
scp -3 user@server1:/SomeFolder/file.txt user@server2:$PATH;

I get this error

main.sh: line 3: scp: command not found

If I put /SomeFolder/file2.txt in place of of "$PATH" it still doesn't work - same error. It's only after I remove entire second line ( PATH definition) does it work.

I simplified my script, the PATH is defined by executing a script inside another server but that doesn't matter. I tested it like what you see and I concluded that the error is due to PATH being defined in the first place.

Answer 1

It is happening because PATH is a system variable that defines directories where the programs and scripts should be looked for. You can view its value by executing echo $PATH . In your script you are setting PATH to /SomeFolder/file2.txt so the program scp that is usually in /usr/bin/ can't be found. Just change the name of variable PATH in your script to something else.