Patent ID: 7558810

Claim:
A method for managing a path environment variable in a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of: reading at least one path environment variable string; parsing at least one path variable from the at least one path environment variable string; and determining if a file directory associated with the at least one path variable exists after parsing the at least one path variable; compiling a list of parsed path variables; presenting the list of parsed path variables to a user on a display; indicating, in the list, which parsed path variables are associated with a non-existent file directory and which parsed path variables are associated with an existing file directory; presenting a prompt to the user requesting deletion of a path variable associated with a non-existent file directory; presenting a prompt to the user requesting reordering of the list of parsed path variables on the display; and reassembling the path environment variable string with the reordered list of parsed path variables.