How can I set my Cygwin PATH to find javac?

as you write the it with double-quotes, you don't need to escape spaces with \

export PATH=$PATH:"/cygdrive/C/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/"

of course this also works:

export PATH=$PATH:/cygdrive/C/Program\ Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/

Java binaries may be under "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)": those white spaces will likely affect the behaviour.

In order to set up env variables correctly, I suggest gathering some info before starting:

• Open DOS shell (type cmd into 'RUN' box) go to C:\
• type "dir /x" and take note of DOS names (with ~) for "Program Files *" folders

Cygwin configuration:

go under C:\cygwin\home\, then open .bash_profile and add the following two lines (conveniently customized in order to match you actual JDK path)

export JAVA_HOME="/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/Java/jdk1.8.0_65"export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH"

Now from Cygwin launch

javac -version

to check if the configuration is successful.

To bring more prominence to the useful comment by @johanvdw:

If you want to ensure your your javac file path is always know when cygwin starts, you may edit your .bash_profile file. In this example you would add export PATH=$PATH:"/cygdrive/C/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/" somewhere in the file.

When Cygwin starts, it'll search directories in PATH and this one for executable files to run.