Environment Settings ie .profile

To maintain common environment settings for all users, put them in /etc/environment or /etc/profile.

The first one is dedicated to set common environment variables, while the latter can contains more generic tasks such as check new mails.

To modify a specific user's environment you can edit their .login, .cshrc and/or .profile. These files are located in their home (login) directory. Csh uses .cshrc, sh uses .profile.

It is usually a good idea to test new settings by entering the commands interactively but your observation is correct, they go away when you log out.

Check for .profile file, in that file you have to mention the path for which you want to make changes permanently, It is obvious when you change the path,export path it will lost after that session finished, for this you have to made changes in .profile file only.

You get good answers.
One small observation (I hope you know this).
When adding a new directory to the PATH don't forget to add the $PATH variable like:

$ PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin ; export PATH

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