getenv(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

GETENV(3)               NetBSD Library Functions Manual              GETENV(3)


NAME

     getenv, putenv, setenv, unsetenv -- environment variable functions


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <stdlib.h>

     char *
     getenv(const char *name);

     int
     setenv(const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite);

     int
     putenv(const char *string);

     int
     unsetenv(const char *name);


DESCRIPTION

     These functions set, unset and fetch environment variables from the host
     environment list.  For compatibility with differing environment conven-
     tions, the given arguments name and value may be appended and prepended,
     respectively, with an equal sign ``='', except for unsetenv().

     The getenv() function obtains the current value of the environment vari-
     able, name.  If the variable name is not in the current environment, a
     null pointer is returned.

     The setenv() function inserts or resets the environment variable name in
     the current environment list.  If the variable name does not exist in the
     list, it is inserted with the given value.  If the variable does exist,
     the argument overwrite is tested; if overwrite is zero, the variable is
     not reset, otherwise it is reset to the given value.

     The putenv() function takes an argument of the form ``name=value'' and is
     equivalent to:

           setenv(name, value, 1);

     The unsetenv() function deletes all instances of the variable name
     pointed to by name from the list.


RETURN VALUES

     The functions setenv(), putenv() and unsetenv() return zero if success-
     ful; otherwise the global variable errno is set to indicate the error and
     a -1 is returned.

     If getenv() is successful, the string returned should be considered read-
     only.


ERRORS

     [EINVAL]           The name argument to unsetenv() is a null pointer,
                        points to an empty string, or points to a string con-
                        taining an ``='' character.

     [ENOMEM]           The function setenv() or putenv() failed because they
                        were unable to allocate memory for the environment.


SEE ALSO

     csh(1), sh(1), execve(2), environ(7)


STANDARDS

     The getenv() function conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C89'').  The
     putenv() function conforms to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4
     (``XPG4'').  The unsetenv() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
     (``POSIX.1'').


HISTORY

     The functions setenv() and unsetenv() appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
     The putenv() function appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.

NetBSD 3.1                       April 1, 2003                      NetBSD 3.1