A method, system, and apparatus for correcting a path sequence of an environment variable in a data processing system is provided. In one embodiment, an environment variable manager monitors the data processing system for any change effecting any of the environment variables within the data processing system. If a change effecting the environment variable is detected, the environment variable manager modifies the environment variable to ensure that a proper file is found and used when the file is selected by a user or a running application program. Therefore, when duplicate files exist on the data processing system, the environment variable manager ensures that the incorrect file is not used when the file is requested by a user or a running application program.