How can I fix my terminal when editing the PATH in .bash_profile has the startup hang and I get no prompt?
OK - no worries. You did in fact mess things up, but here's an easy way to fix things.


Open TextEdit (or whatever editor you like graphically on the Mac)
Open a file and go to your home folder (click or press Command Shift G and type ~ and return)
Show hidden files (if needed) - Command + Shift + .
Open .bash_profile


Delete everything or comment out anything that contains PATH= and save the file (you can save as to save it to your Desktop if you want to fix it up rather than start new).

Then open a new terminal window to check your work. If it works, close out the broken sessions and make sure you incorporate the old path when you add things:

This is safe:

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:$PATH:/path/to/whatever/bin"


It's safe since the old $PATH is included on the right of the =

What isn't safe is when 

export PATH="whatever"


All the other parts of the path are now gone, with only whatever left and the last = wins, so your path is missing very important items instead of adding things to the default path, you broke it temporarily. No worries, this is a phase of passage - everyone needs to break their shell dot files to learn. Welcome to the club.