diff --git a/nvm.sh b/nvm.sh
index 149f784..c4825c2 100644
--- a/nvm.sh
+++ b/nvm.sh
@@ -601,11 +601,21 @@ nvm_strip_path() {
     -e "s#${NVM_DIR}/versions/[^/]*/[^/]*${2-}[^:]*##g"
 }
 
-nvm_prepend_path() {
+nvm_change_path() {
+  # if there’s no initial path, just return the supplementary path
   if [ -z "${1-}" ]; then
-    nvm_echo "${2-}"
+    nvm_echo "${3-}${2-}"
+  # if the initial path doesn’t contain an nvm path, prepend the supplementary
+  # path
+  elif ! echo "${1-}" | grep -q "${NVM_DIR}/[^/]*${2-}" && \
+       ! echo "${1-}" | grep -q "${NVM_DIR}/versions/[^/]*/[^/]*${2-}"; then
+    nvm_echo "${3-}${2-}:${1-}"
+  # use sed to replace the existing nvm path with the supplementary path. This
+  # preserves the order of the path.
   else
-    nvm_echo "${2-}:${1-}"
+    nvm_echo "${1-}" | command sed \
+      -e "s#${NVM_DIR}/[^/]*${2-}[^:]*#${3-}${2-}#g" \
+      -e "s#${NVM_DIR}/versions/[^/]*/[^/]*${2-}[^:]*#${3-}${2-}#g"
   fi
 }
 
@@ -2866,19 +2876,15 @@ nvm() {
       local NVM_VERSION_DIR
       NVM_VERSION_DIR="$(nvm_version_path "$VERSION")"
 
-      # Strip other version from PATH
-      PATH="$(nvm_strip_path "$PATH" "/bin")"
-      # Prepend current version
-      PATH="$(nvm_prepend_path "$PATH" "$NVM_VERSION_DIR/bin")"
+      # Change current version
+      PATH="$(nvm_change_path "$PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_VERSION_DIR")"
       if nvm_has manpath; then
         if [ -z "${MANPATH-}" ]; then
           local MANPATH
           MANPATH=$(manpath)
         fi
-        # Strip other version from MANPATH
-        MANPATH="$(nvm_strip_path "$MANPATH" "/share/man")"
-        # Prepend current version
-        MANPATH="$(nvm_prepend_path "$MANPATH" "$NVM_VERSION_DIR/share/man")"
+        # Change current version
+        MANPATH="$(nvm_change_path "$MANPATH" "/share/man" "$NVM_VERSION_DIR")"
         export MANPATH
       fi
       export PATH
@@ -3387,7 +3393,7 @@ nvm() {
         nvm_ensure_default_set nvm_get_arch nvm_get_os \
         nvm_print_implicit_alias nvm_validate_implicit_alias \
         nvm_resolve_alias nvm_ls_current nvm_alias \
-        nvm_binary_available nvm_prepend_path nvm_strip_path \
+        nvm_binary_available nvm_change_path nvm_strip_path \
         nvm_num_version_groups nvm_format_version nvm_ensure_version_prefix \
         nvm_normalize_version nvm_is_valid_version \
         nvm_ensure_version_installed nvm_cache_dir \
diff --git "a/test/fast/Running \"nvm deactivate\" should unset the nvm environment variables." "b/test/fast/Running \"nvm deactivate\" should unset the nvm environment variables."
index 4c20a19..568f000 100755
--- "a/test/fast/Running \"nvm deactivate\" should unset the nvm environment variables."	
+++ "b/test/fast/Running \"nvm deactivate\" should unset the nvm environment variables."	
@@ -6,17 +6,17 @@ mkdir -p ../../v0.2.3
 
 die () { echo "$@" ; exit 1; }
 
-[ `expr $PATH : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin"` = 0 ] || echo "WARNING: Unexpectedly found v0.2.3 already active" >&2
+[ `expr $PATH : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin.*"` = 0 ] || echo "WARNING: Unexpectedly found v0.2.3 already active" >&2
 
 \. ../../nvm.sh
 
 nvm use --delete-prefix v0.2.3 || die "Failed to activate v0.2.3"
-[ `expr "$PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin"` != 0 ] || die "PATH not set up properly"
-[ `expr "$NODE_PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/lib/node_modules"` = 0 ] || die "NODE_PATH should not contain (npm root -g)"
+[ `expr "$PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin.*"` != 0 ] || die "PATH not set up properly"
+[ `expr "$NODE_PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/lib/node_modules.*"` = 0 ] || die "NODE_PATH should not contain (npm root -g)"
 # ^ note: NODE_PATH should not contain `npm root -g` since globals should not be requireable
 [ `expr "$NVM_BIN" : ".*v0.2.3/bin"` != 0 ] || die "NODE_BIN should contain bin directory path"
 
 nvm deactivate || die "Failed to deactivate v0.2.3"
-[ `expr "$PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin"` = 0 ] || die "PATH not cleaned properly"
-[ `expr "$NODE_PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/lib/node_modules"` = 0 ] || die "NODE_PATH not cleaned properly"
+[ `expr "$PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/bin.*"` = 0 ] || die "PATH not cleaned properly"
+[ `expr "$NODE_PATH" : ".*v0.2.3/.*/lib/node_modules.*"` = 0 ] || die "NODE_PATH not cleaned properly"
 [ "_$NVM_BIN" = "_" ] || die "NVM_BIN should be unset: got '$NVM_BIN'"
diff --git a/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_change_path b/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_change_path
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..621729f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_change_path	
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+die () { echo "$@" ; exit 1; }
+
+\. ../../../nvm.sh
+
+TEST_PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
+
+# New version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$TEST_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" ] || die "Not correctly changed: $NEW_PATH "
+
+# Old version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$TEST_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" ] || die "Not correctly changed: $NEW_PATH "
+
+
+TEST_PATH=/home/user/code/test/node_modules/.bin:$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v4.5.0/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
+
+# New version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$TEST_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "/home/user/code/test/node_modules/.bin:$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" ] || die "Not correctly changed: $NEW_PATH "
+
+# Old version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$TEST_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "/home/user/code/test/node_modules/.bin:$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" ] || die "Not correctly changed: $NEW_PATH "
+
+
+EMPTY_PATH=
+
+# New version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$EMPTY_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v7.1.0/bin" ] || die "Not correctly prepended: $NEW_PATH "
+
+# Old version dir
+NEW_PATH=`nvm_change_path "$EMPTY_PATH" "/bin" "$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2"`
+
+[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/v0.1.2/bin" ] || die "Not correctly prepended: $NEW_PATH "
diff --git a/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_prepend_path b/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_prepend_path
deleted file mode 100755
index 37df3f9..0000000
--- a/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_prepend_path	
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-die () { echo "$@" ; exit 1; }
-
-\. ../../../nvm.sh
-
-TEST_PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
-
-NEW_PATH=`nvm_prepend_path "$TEST_PATH" "$NVM_DIR/v0.2.5/bin"`
-
-[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/v0.2.5/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" ] || die "Not correctly prepended: $NEW_PATH "
-
-
-EMPTY_PATH=
-
-NEW_PATH=`nvm_prepend_path "$EMPTY_PATH" "$NVM_DIR/v0.2.5/bin"`
-
-[ "$NEW_PATH" = "$NVM_DIR/v0.2.5/bin" ] || die "Not correctly prepended: $NEW_PATH "