A.P. Lawrence

This article is from a FAQ concerning SCO operating systems. While some of the information may be applicable to any OS, or any Unix or Linux OS, it may be specific to SCO Xenix, Open Desktop or Openserver.

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Unix, Xenix and ODT General FAQ

How do I make environment variables global?

Environment variables are made global by exporting them:

MYVAR="hello"
export MYVAR

Once the variable is exported, you can change it's value and do NOT have to export it again. If you need everyone to have a particular variable set, put it in /etc/profile and export it there.

Comments /SCOFAQ/FAQ_scotec6global.html


Thu May 17 00:51:23 2007: Subject:   anonymous
you don't know what you're talking about....



Thu May 17 10:00:10 2007: Subject:   TonyLawrence
I don't?



:-)
Let me explain where this admittedly rather basic entry originated.
I'd often see people do something like this in scripts or at the command line:
PATH=$PATH:/whatever
export PATH
There's no reason to do the export (PATH is already exported), but there it is.

Sun May 20 01:52:36 2007: Subject:   BigDumbDinosaur
you don't know what you're talking about....

This poster must have wandered over from Wikipedia. That place is full of people who think no one else knows what they're talking about.



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