/etc/paths is for all users on the system. Editing it may not be desirable for that reason. You can always modify your own path, for example in "sh" type shells (sh, bash, zsh) you put the following line in the appropriate file in your home directory (.profile, .bash_profile, .zshrc):
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
This puts /usr/local/bin before the paths in /etc/paths in the search list, and exports the path to a new shell if you spawn one.
/etc/paths is for all users on the system. Editing it may not be desirable for that reason. You can always modify your own path, for example in "sh" type shells (sh, bash, zsh) you put the following line in the appropriate file in your home directory (.profile, .bash_profile, .zshrc):
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
This puts /usr/local/bin before the paths in /etc/paths in the search list, and exports the path to a new shell if you spawn one.