#Update:

___NB:___ _This is a revised and updated version of [my original question](http://blender.stackexchange.com/revisions/2078/4)._ You can also see the relevant discussion on [meta](https://blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/231/why-exactly-was-my-question-closed-question-id-2078) as to why it was closed and reopened.

---

On June 29th I asked what I thought was a very simple, straight forward question: [Can files be queued for animation?][1] The answer, basically, was yes, if you do as explained in the manual on the [Render/Command Line][2] page:

![enter image description here][3]

Although it didn't explain that the word 'blender' in the syntax means the entire path to blender (or does it?), I worked it out (or did I?). Maybe that is considered to be common sense? (This could be an indication of where the problem lies!)

Now, for those of you who asked:
There are two ways that I can start blender from the command line.
First open Terminal. It looks like this:

![enter image description here][4]

1 - Type 'open' and space at the command line, then drag blender.app from /Applications/Blender/:

![enter image description here][5]

 to the Terminal window:

![enter image description here][6]

Press return, and blender opens, then if you quit Terminal, blender quits too.

 2 - Type 'open' and space at the command line, then drag blender (Unix Executable File) from /Applications/Blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS/:

![enter image description here][7]

 to the Terminal window:

![enter image description here][8]

Press return, and blender opens, and another Terminal window opens with:

![enter image description here][9]

then if you quit Terminal, blender quits too.

Now back to the issue. Since I first asked this question I have been told several times that I must set up the $PATH environment variable. I thought I had done that but now I'm not sure!

I typed sudo nano /etc/paths at the command prompt:

![enter image description here][10]

 Then return, and got this:

![enter image description here][11]

Then I added the path to blender:

![enter image description here][12]

and saved it. Then to check it I typed in echo $PATH and the result shows the path has been added:

![enter image description here][13]

I have a feeling this path is not the correct one for $PATH.
This is the result of an attempt to do a background render:

![enter image description here][14]

'blender: command not found'.

**Additional update:**

I tried what Aldrik and zeffii suggested, to change the $PATH variable setting to /Applications/Blender/blender.app/Contents/MacOS, then attempted to do a background render only to have blender quit before doing anything:

![enter image description here][15]

Then, after some searching, I found this:

![enter image description here][16]
[http://david-martinez.tumblr.com/post/28083831730/environment-variables-and-mountain-lion][17]

I tried it:

![enter image description here][18]

and got nothing!


  [1]: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1499/can-files-be-queued-for-animation
  [2]: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Render/Command_Line
  [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/rc0Sl.png
  [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/p6zYq.png
  [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/ta2PC.png
  [6]: https://i.sstatic.net/oFVN8.png
  [7]: https://i.sstatic.net/iaHbR.png
  [8]: https://i.sstatic.net/C4z5f.png
  [9]: https://i.sstatic.net/74gaN.png
  [10]: https://i.sstatic.net/n0bWJ.png
  [11]: https://i.sstatic.net/v9CnI.png
  [12]: https://i.sstatic.net/2Ivz3.png
  [13]: https://i.sstatic.net/tZAmn.png
  [14]: https://i.sstatic.net/fEq9I.png
  [15]: https://i.sstatic.net/2h8lg.png
  [16]: https://i.sstatic.net/yuID8.png
  [17]: http://david-martinez.tumblr.com/post/28083831730/environment-variables-and-mountain-lion
  [18]: https://i.sstatic.net/Dkyyj.png