environ(7) - NetBSD Manual Pages

ENVIRON(7)                  NetBSD Reference Manual                 ENVIRON(7)


NAME

     environ - user process 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:

     AUDIOCTLDEVICE  The name of the audio control device to be used by
                     audioctl(1), audioplay(1) and audiorecord(1).

     AUDIODEVICE     The name of the audio device to be used by audioplay(1)
                     and audiorecord(1).

     BLOCKSIZE       The size of the block units used by several commands,
                     most notably df(1), du(1) and ls(1).  BLOCKSIZE may be
                     specified in units of a byte by specifying a number, in
                     units of a kilobyte by specifying a number followed by
                     ``K'' or ``k'', in units of a megabyte by specifying a
                     number followed by ``M'' or ``m'' and in units of a giga-
                     byte by specifying a number followed by ``G'' or ``g''.
                     Sizes less than 512 bytes or greater than a gigabyte are
                     ignored.

     EXINIT          A startup list of commands read by ex(1) and vi(1).

     HOME            A user's login directory, set by login(1) from the pass-
                     word file passwd(5).

     MIXERDEVICE     The name of the audio mixer device to be used by
                     mixerctl(1).

     PATH            The sequence of directories, separated by colons,
                     searched by csh(1), sh(1), system(3), execvp(3), etc,
                     when looking for an executable file.  PATH is set to
                     ``/usr/bin:/bin'' initially by login(1).

     PRINTER         The name of the default printer to be used by lpr(1),
                     lpq(1), and lprm(1).

     SHELL           The full pathname of the user's login shell.

     TERM            The kind of terminal for which output is to be prepared.
                     This information is used by commands, such as nroff(1) or
                     plot(1) which may exploit special terminal capabilities.
                     See /usr/share/misc/termcap (termcap(5)) for a list of
                     terminal types.

     TERMCAP         The string describing the terminal in TERM, or, if it be-
                     gins with a '/', the name of the termcap file.  See
                     TERMPATH below, termcap(5), and termcap(3).

     TERMPATH        A sequence of pathnames of termcap files, separated by
                     colons or spaces, which are searched for terminal de-
                     scriptions in the order listed.  Having no TERMPATH is
                     equivalent to a TERMPATH of
                     ``$HOME/.termcap:/usr/share/misc/termcap''.  TERMPATH is
                     ignored if TERMCAP contains a full pathname.

     TMPDIR          The directory in which to store temporary files.  Most
                     applications use either /tmp or /var/tmp.  Setting this
                     variable will make them use another directory.

     TZ              The timezone to use when displaying dates.  The normal
                     format is a pathname relative to /usr/share/zoneinfo.
                     For example, the command env TZ=US/Pacific date displays
                     the current time in California.  See tzset(3) for more
                     information.

     USER            The login name of the user.

     Further names may be placed in the environment by the export command and
     name=value arguments in sh(1), or by the setenv command if you use
     csh(1).  It is unwise to change certain sh(1) variables that are fre-
     quently exported by .profile files, such as MAIL, PS1, PS2, and IFS, un-
     less you know what you are doing.


SEE ALSO

     audioctl(1), audioplay(1), audiorecord(1), csh(1), ex(1), login(1),
     sh(1), execve(2), execle(3), system(3), termcap(3), audio(4), termcap(5)


HISTORY

     The environ manual page appeared in 4.2BSD.

NetBSD 1.4                       July 13, 1994                               2