title: Setting PATH on OS X 10.9 is not working
body: <p>I have searched all posts regarding PATH issues on Mac, but have not found an answer to mine.</p>
  
  <p>I want to get <code>/usr/local/bin</code> to be searched first. I used homebrews example but it did not work. I created the <code>.bash_profile</code> file and put in:</p>
  
  <pre><code>export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As homebrew says except this seems to remove the standard commands for me with <code>ls</code>, <code>cd</code>, etc not working. I want it to search this folder first. I found the <code>/etc/paths</code> file and saw that it <code>/usr/local/bin</code> is located last.</p>
  
  <p>Following instructions found here not to mess with the path file, I removed the change I made to <code>.bash_profile</code> and was able to get it to work (<code>brew doctor</code> is successful) with putting in</p>
  
  <pre><code>export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have tested this on two different Macs, and neither accepts appending the <code>$PATH</code>. Doing some research it seems that there is a path_helper file which calls stuff which may have changed in OS x 10.9. Is there a way to get the appending to work? I have tried it with the quotes and without and neither works. And each time I have restarted terminal or tried the source <code>~/.bash_profile</code> command</p>
  
  <p>I would prefer to not rewrite the whole path in .bash_profile, or at least know why appending it is not working.</p>