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[n, install] "bash: n: command not found" solution

February 8th, 2021

node

Hi there!

I'm Arisa, a freelance Full Stack Developer living in Germany🇩🇪

I'm developing Lilac, an online school with hands-on Frontend e-books and tutoring👩‍💻

What is this article about?

  • n installation failure(or actually, it's installed but no configured PATH)

You'll see a log after your installation👇

/Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/.npm-packages/bin/n -> /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/.npm-packages/lib/node_modules/n/bin/n + n@7.0.1 updated 1 package in 0.338s

But when you come and check on n...

bash: n: command not found

WHY?🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I mean, you showed me you're installed..right?

Who is this article for?

  • Anyone who suffers from `"n: command not found"`

Which environment I had?

  • node: v14.14.0

  • macOS Catalina

How to get rid of this error nightmare?

It's actually not that nightmare than you think.

All you need to do is just configure into the right PATH.

1. Check your default shell

Mostly, if your OS(macOS) is Catalina or higher, you're using zsh.

But sometimes, you're still using bash.

Make sure before you read further process.

Depends on what you use, your config file name is different.

You can check it out by this command.

$ echo $SHELL # you'll see /usr/local/bin/zsh if you use zsh

2. Create a config file

  • If you're bash .bash_profile

  • If you're zsh .zshrc

Make sure to create in root.

3. Edit a config file

If you're a vimmer, go ahead with vim.

I'm not that vimmer person.

If you're also not much vimmer, follow me🏃‍♀️

Open your config file with a text editor.

If you use VS Code and your config file is zsh, the command is something like this.

$ open ~/.zshrc -a code

Check a log when you installed n.

You'll use this PATH to correct the PATH for n.

The basic command is this.

export PATH=(YOUR_PATH_FROM_LOG):$PATH

Fill in your config file to set up the PATH based above.

export PATH=$HOME/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/n/bin:$PATH

4. Apply what you configured

Don't forget this process.

$ source ~/.zshrc

If things are not working, come back and make sure you applied what you configured.

5. Final check

Check your n version.

$ n --version

You'll be able to see n's version🎉

Hope this article solved what you're struggling.

Ciao👋