.\" Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\" @(#)environ.7 6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
environ \- user environment
.B extern char **environ;
An array of strings called the `environment' is made available by
when a process begins. By convention these strings have the form
The following names are used by various commands:
The sequence of directory prefixes that
etc., apply in searching for a file known by an incomplete path name.
The prefixes are separated by `:'.
sets PATH=:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin.
A user's login directory, set by
The kind of terminal for which output is to be prepared.
This information is used by commands, such as
which may exploit special terminal capabilities. See
for a list of terminal types.
The file name of the users login shell.
The string describing the terminal in TERM, or the name of the termcap file, see
.IR termcap (5), termcap (3X).
A startup list of commands read by
The login name of the user.
The name of the default printer to be used by
Further names may be placed in the environment by the
command and `name=value' arguments in
Arguments may also be placed in the environment at the point of an
It is unwise to conflict with certain
variables that are frequently exported by `.profile' files: