new install of homebrew w older installs

[LGitHub-sprout]

hi,
hoping i understand the Homebrew install process enough to ask this question intelligently ;-p
i have older pkg installs in usr/local/bin as well as in other directories like (npm, git, gem, etc) in my home directory on a 2009 iMac running OS10.11.6.
i (believe i) understand that homebrew installs in /bin/bash and symlinks newly installed files to /usr/local.
questions is: would these symlinks be used automatically or would i have to change my $PATH (which i've never done before :/ )
many thanks!

[SMillerDev]

/bin/bash is a file. Homebrew installs everything to /usr/local/Cellar and symlinks it to the relevant unix directories in /usr/local. This is bin, lib, share etc. If you run echo $PATH and /usr/local/bin isn't in there you'll need to update it indeed.

[LGitHub-sprout]

ok, thank you for the clarifications.

[LGitHub-sprout]

got thank you for the clarifications <3