How to Solve GCC Command Not Found Error in Bash

1. Install the GCC Tool for Linux
2. Install the GCC Tool for Cygwin

The GNU Compiler Collection, also known as GCC, comprises compilers and development tools available for Linux, Windows, and other operating systems.

This article will discuss installing the GCC and solving the bash: gcc: command not found error in Linux Bash.

You can use the GCC tool to compile programs written in languages such as C. If you get the bash: gcc: command not found error when using this command, the GCC tool is not installed correctly.

The rest of the article will explain how to download the GCC tool.

Install the GCC Tool for Linux

Install the GCC tool on different operating systems with the following commands.

for Arch Linux/Manjaro

Install the whole package, including the GCC tool.

sudo pacman -S base-devel

Alternatively, you can install just the GCC package.

sudo pacman -S gcc

for Ubuntu

Install the whole package, including the GCC tool.

sudo apt install build-essential

Alternatively, you can install just the GCC package.

sudo apt install gcc

Install the GCC Tool for Cygwin

First, you need to download the Cygwin setup-x86_64.exe from here and launch it.

Press the Next button until you see the Cygwin Installation - Select Packages box and make the setting such as selecting the necessary root directories for installation.

Enter gcc in the Search box, find the gcc-core package in the Package column in the list, and change the combo box in the New column from Skip to the GCC version.

After clicking the Next button, you will see the Cygwin Installation - Review and confirm changes dialog. If you notice other packages besides gcc-core, you can leave them unchanged but ensure that gcc-core is presented in the change list.

If you still get the bash: gcc: command not found error after installation, add the ;C:\cygwin64\bin to the PATH environment variable.

You can successfully install the GCC tool using the one that suits you best from these options. To check the installation, check the version of the tools.

gcc --version

If you can view the version information without error, you can use the gcc command to compile code files.