commands not found on zsh [closed]

I am using the z Shell (zsh) instead of the default bash, and something wrong happen so that all commands that used to work are no longer recognized:

ls
zsh: command not found: ls

open -e .zshrc
zsh: correct 'open' to '_open' [nyae]? 

I don't know how to reset zsh or how to fix this. Here is the content of $PATH variable:

echo $PATH
/Users/Malloc/bin/Sencha/Cmd/3.1.2.342:/usr/local/bin/mate

I cannot open the .bash_profile file nor .zshrc file, seems the only solution is to reset the zsh. Any ideas?

EDIT:

I even tried to reset zsh as indicated in this thread, but always got command not found error:

exec zsh
zsh: command not found: zsh

So what's going on? Why all commands are lost?

It's evident that you've managed to mess up your PATH variable. (Your current PATH doesn't contain any location where common utilities are located.)

Try:

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:${PATH}
export PATH

Alternatively, for "resetting" zsh, specify the complete path to the shell:

exec /bin/zsh

or

exec /usr/bin/zsh

In your ~/.zsh config file include the path to your bash path file that contains your aliases. In my case it was including the line "source ~/.bash_profile" inside of ~/.zsh .

1. Use a good text editor like VS Code and open your .zshrc file (should be in your home directory. if you don't see it, be sure to right-click in the file folder when opening and choose option to 'show hidden files').

2. find where it states: export PATH=a-bunch-of-paths-separated-by-colons:

3. insert this at the end of the line, before the end-quote: :$HOME/.local/bin

And it should work for you.

You can test if this will work first by typing this in your terminal first: export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH

If the error disappears after you type this into the terminal and your terminal functions normally, the above solution will work. If it doesn't, you'll have to find the folder where your reference error is located (the thing not found), and replace the PATH above with the PATH-TO-THAT-FOLDER.