no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

OK, I just ran "sudo aptitude install build-essential" again this is what I got. I don't think it installed...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "build-essential"
Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched "build-essential"
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependence tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done

after seeing this I ran "find / -name gcc" and it returned "/usr/lib/gcc
I would assume this means that gcc is installed and I should be able to compile but...
thanks in advance I am fresh to linux and your help in much appreciated.

What is the output of the following commands:

echo $PATH
which gcc

Echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin

Which gcc
Returned nothing, does this mean it's not installed?

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of Steven Danna
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 2:38 PM
To: Ben Larisch
Subject: Re: [Question #76983]: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

Your question #76983 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/76983

    Status: Open => Needs information

Steven Danna requested for more information:
What is the output of the following commands:

echo $PATH
which gcc

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"Which gcc
Returned nothing, does this mean it's not installed?"

Maybe. What is the output of:

sudo apt-cache policy gcc

Also, try this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential

If you didn't run an update before trying to install, it wouldn't know where to look for the package.

That worked, and it looks like everything is running just fine now.
Thanks for your help :-)