-bash: export: `=': not a valid identifier

Question

Every time I open my terminal I get the error below:

Last login: Sun Aug  4 17:23:05 on ttys000
-bash: export: `=': not a valid identifier
-bash: export: `/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin': not a valid identifier
-bash: export: `=': not a valid identifier
-bash: export: `/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin': not a valid identifier

And here is my export output:

Calvin:~ sunkehappy$ export
declare -x Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render="/tmp/launch-4lEZNa/Render"
declare -x Apple_Ubiquity_Message="/tmp/launch-ukGAv5/Apple_Ubiquity_Message"
declare -x COMMAND_MODE="unix2003"
declare -x HOME="/Users/sunkehappy"
declare -x LANG="zh_CN.UTF-8"
declare -x LOGNAME="sunkehappy"
declare -x OLDPWD
declare -x PATH="/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin"
declare -x PWD="/Users/sunkehappy"
declare -x SECURITYSESSIONID="186a4"
declare -x SHELL="/bin/bash"
declare -x SHLVL="1"
declare -x SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/tmp/launch-YAEryC/Listeners"
declare -x TERM="xterm-256color"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM="Apple_Terminal"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION="309"
declare -x TERM_SESSION_ID="B134A404-D87F-4BB9-8A08-55F8CE923339"
declare -x TMPDIR="/var/folders/kt/pfw99tps22gg2019vz8k1zcm0000gn/T/"
declare -x USER="sunkehappy"
declare -x __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING="0x1F5:25:52"

Answer 1

You cannot put spaces around the = sign when you do:

export foo=bar

Remove the spaces you have and you should be good to go.

If you type:

export foo = bar

the shell will interpret that as a request to export three names: foo, = and bar. = isn't a valid variable name, so the command fails. The variable name, equals sign and it's value must not be separated by spaces for them to be processed as a simultaneous assignment and export.