ENVIRON(7)ENVIRON(7)NAMEenviron - user environment
SYNOPSIS
extern char **environ;
DESCRIPTION
An array of strings called the ``environment'' is made available by
execve(2) when a process begins. By convention these strings have the
form ``name=value''. The following names are used by various commands:
PATH The sequence of directory prefixes that sh(1), time(1),
nice(1), etc., apply in searching for a file known by an
incomplete path name. The prefixes are separated by ``:''.
HOME A user's login directory, set at login time from the password
file passwd(5).
TERM The kind of terminal for which output is to be prepared. This
information is used by commands such as nroff, which may
exploit special terminal capabilities. See /etc/termcap
(termcap(5)) for a list of terminal types.
SHELL The file name of the user's application, typically a shell, to
service command line requests.
TERMCAP The string describing the terminal in TERM, or the name of the
termcap file, see termcap(5), termcap(3X).
EXINIT A startup list of commands read by ex(1), edit (1) and vi(1).
USER The name of the user.
Further names may be placed in the environment by the export command
and ``name=value'' assignments in sh(1), or by the setenv command if
you use csh(1). A default printer specified by PRINTER=value will not
be read by the NeXT line printer family of commands, though it is valid
in many other versions of UNIX. The easiest way to specify a default
printer is to call up the print panel and click on the chosen printer
name. Another way is through the dwrite(1) utility. Arguments may
also be placed in the environment at the point of an execve(2). It is
unwise to conflict with certain sh(1) variables frequently exported by
``.profile'' files: MAIL, PS1, PS2, IFS.
SEE ALSOcsh(1)ex(1)login(1)sh(1)execve(2)getenv(3)system(3)termcap(3X)termcap(5)4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 20, 1985 ENVIRON(7)
