Broken Snow Leopard Shell --how do I fix?

Question

I think I managed to break my Snow Leopard shell, but I'm not sure. Is there a way to reset all env variables to default?

Answer 1

Close terminal and re-open a new one. Any environments variables you set in the last session will be gone.

If the problem persists, you probably edited ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile; edit them again and remove any changes (or if you want to get right back to the default OS X state, just remove them completely - a default OS X install has these files empty or non-existent).

Answer 2

One of the following:

• Exit the shell and start it again.
• Log out and log in.
• . /etc/bash.bashrc
• . ~/.bashrc
• exec bash -i

The two that start with "dot" source your startup files which will reset some of your environment variables (but may make your $PATH variable longer - probably with no consequences).