# No cross sections xml but i have it in my path?

**URL:** <https://openmc.discourse.group/t/no-cross-sections-xml-but-i-have-it-in-my-path/3871>\
**Category:** User Support\
**Created:** [January 28, 2024, 5:18am UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/no-cross-sections-xml-but-i-have-it-in-my-path/3871 "2024-01-28T05:18:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cclaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@cclaro](https://openmc.discourse.group/u/cclaro)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 5:18am UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/no-cross-sections-xml-but-i-have-it-in-my-path/3871/1 "2024-01-28T05:18:37Z")

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First, here is the commands im entering into my terminal (MACos) to see if it recognizes my variable for cross sections:

Christians-MacBook-Pro-2:~ christianandresclaro$ echo $OPENMC\_CROSS\_SECTIONS  
/Users/christianandresclaro/openmc/Cross\_Section\_Libraries/endfb-vii.1-hdf5/cross\_sections.xml  
as you can see it returns the file within the proper directory. however when i try to run openmc it says it cant recognize the xml file. any mac users have any tips to verify if the environment variable is set up correctly?

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**Author:** ![cclaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@cclaro](https://openmc.discourse.group/u/cclaro)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 5:20am UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/no-cross-sections-xml-but-i-have-it-in-my-path/3871/2 "2024-01-28T05:20:03Z")

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(base) christianandresclaro@Christians-MacBook-Pro-2 code % openmc  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
############### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
################## %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
#################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
##################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
###################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
####################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
####################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
###################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
#################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
################# %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
############### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
############ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
######## %%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
%%%%%%%%%%%

```
             | The OpenMC Monte Carlo Code
   Copyright | 2011-2023 MIT, UChicago Argonne LLC, and contributors
     License | https://docs.openmc.org/en/latest/license.html
     Version | 0.14.0
    Git SHA1 | fa2330103de61a864c958d1a7250f11e5dd91468
   Date/Time | 2024-01-28 00:19:45

```

Reading settings XML file…  
ERROR: No cross\_sections.xml file was specified in materials.xml or in the  
OPENMC\_CROSS\_SECTIONS environment variable. OpenMC needs such a file to  
identify where to find data libraries. Please consult the user’s guide  
at [https://docs.openmc.org/](https://docs.openmc.org/) for information on how to set up data  
libraries.  
(base) christianandresclaro@Christians-MacBook-Pro-2 code %

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cclaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@cclaro](https://openmc.discourse.group/u/cclaro)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/no-cross-sections-xml-but-i-have-it-in-my-path/3871/3 "2024-01-29T21:37:49Z")

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the issue has been resolved. modified the path and verified everything was correct. restarted computer and it worked.