Final answer:
To view the PATH environment variable in Linux, use the 'echo $PATH' command in the terminal, which will display the list of directories included in the PATH. To add a new directory to the PATH temporarily, use 'export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory/path'. For permanent changes, add the export command to your shell's profile file.
Step-by-step explanation:
To view the PATH environment variable in a Linux system, you can use the echo command in the terminal. The PATH environment variable is a colon-separated list of directories that tells the shell where to look for executable files. To display its contents, open your terminal and type the following command: echo $PATH. When you press Enter, you'll see a string of directory paths.
If you want to add a new directory to the PATH, you can use the export command followed by appending the new directory path to the existing PATH variable like this: export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory/path. This will only change the PATH for the current session. If you want to make the change permanent, you'll need to add the export command to the appropriate profile file, like ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile, depending on your shell.