split PATH variable INTO few lines

I have split my PATH variable into few lines, in the file to make them easier to read because it's very long, as I had seen here . This is what I changed in my /etc/profile: # PATH="/usr/share/python-wheels:/usr/share/gcc/python/usr/lib/python3/dist-pa> # PATH="/usr/share/doc:/usr/lib/python3:/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/lib/cups/backend:usr/lib/python3.11:/usr/src/python3.11:/sbin:/bin" path+=( /usr/local/bin /usr/bin /bin /usr/local/games /usr/games /home/lm/local/pipx/venvs/esptool /usr/share/python-wheels /usr/share/gcc/python /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/pygments/lexers /usr/share/doc /usr/lib/python3 /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages /usr/lib/cups/backend /usr/lib/python3.11 /usr/src/python3.11 /sbin /bin ) export PATH Then I ran source ~/.profile and echo $PATH has not changed: root@debian:/home/lm# echo $PATH /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/home/lm/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin root@debian:/etc/default# source /etc/profile root@debian:/etc/default# echo $PATH /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/home/lm/.local/bin:/root/.local/bin even after restart XFCE OR after reboot PATH still default value. What's wrong and how can I fix this for PATH new settings will be accepted? my system is Debian 12 and XFCE