Step 1: echo $SHELL Step 2: should mention profiles Step 3: is likely confused by terminal emulators that do not start login shells so profile is not reread (this is also why you don’t have dozens of duplicate path entries all the time). Trial and error is misleading without knowing why login items are or are not reread. Step 4: adding these statements to rc’s will generally lead to duplicate entries for nested shells Step 5: starts nested shells, so prior instances of step 4 demonstrate the problem with step 4. A login shell can generally be started cleanly like exec env -I $SHELL -l

Problem 2: comes from an all too common choice not to understand profiles and login shells. This includes vscodes choices.

Problem X: adding empty string to your path. This has all kinds of bad outcomes.