How to set environmental variable PATH?

I'm using Ubuntu 10.10 and downloaded jdk7 from java.sun.com. That jdk is a compressed file and on extraction there I got all the files and folders of jdk1.7.0.

But now if I tries to compile a java program than there is an error that javac not found.
How could I set PATH of jdk1.7.0\bin to use javac everywhere?

A better way to install the Sun JDK is like so:

• How do I install Java?

Use update-alternatives to do all the heavy lifting for you.

In any case, updating the PATH is a very basic command.

• In the default bash shell:

  export PATH=$PATH:/your/path

• For csh use:

  setenv PATH $PATH:/your/path

Edit: Note that this is indeed the instructions for installing Java 6 and not Java 7, which is still - as of now - not available in any official repository or ppa.

1. Download the latest version of java from java.sun.com
2. Extract the file in your home folder.

3. Run the following commands in terminal

   sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/java/

   sudo mv jdk1.7.0/ /usr/lib/java/

4. Find the file profile in etc folder of FileSystem

5. Edit in editor and write the line

   export PATH=/usr/lib/java/jdk1.7.0/bin:$PATH

6. save it. You might need to restart your system to make these change.

You can check the current version using the following command javac -version

easiest way:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:webupd8team/java

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y oracle-jdk7-installer

I don't think you will need to bother setting the path after that.