Q) Does the following command work? /opt/perl/ActivePerl-5.20/bin/perl -v >> yes , it does. Q)Most likely, you want to add the following line to your ~/.bashrc: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/perl/ActivePerl-5.20/bin >> As I have mentioned earlier, I have already set the path, may not be with your suggested method though. My concern is that, in the given scenario, if I have to execute any perl program, I will have to mention entire path of the perl, I just want to avoid this limitation. e.g. if I execute "perl <xyz.pl>" from the location of the program "perl -v" from any location neither of them would work, for both the scenario, I will have to mention full path to perl,whereas this shouldn't be happening. If this issue could be resolved, I am good to go.