.\" Copyright (c) 1988 The Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" %sccs.include.redist.man% .\" .\" @(#)getenv.3 6.9 (Berkeley) 05/17/90 .\" .TH GETENV 3 "" .AT 3 .SH NAME getenv, putenv, setenv, unsetenv \- manipulate environmental variables .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .ft B #include char * getenv(const char *name); setenv(const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite); putenv(const char *string); void unsetenv(const char *name); .ft R .fi .SH DESCRIPTION .I Getenv searches the environment list (see .IR environ (7)) for a string of the form \fIname\fP\fB=\fP\fIvalue\fP and returns a pointer to the string .I value if such a string is present, and a NULL pointer if it is not. .PP .I Setenv searches the environment list as .I getenv does; if the string .I name is not found, a string of the form \fIname\fP\fB=\fP\fIvalue\fP is added to the environment. If it is found, and .I overwrite is non-zero, its value is changed to .IR value . .I Setenv returns 0 on success and -1 on failure, setting the external variable .IR errno . .PP .I Putenv takes an argument of the form ``\fIname\fR=\fIvalue\fR'' and is the equivalent of: .sp .RS setenv(name, value, 1); .RE .PP .I Unsetenv removes all occurrences of the string .I name from the environment. There is no library provision for completely removing the current environment. It is suggested that the following code be used to do so. .sp .RS .nf static char *envinit[1]; extern char **environ; environ = envinit; .fi .RE .PP All of these routines permit, but do not require, a trailing equals (``='') sign on .I name or a leading equals sign on .IR value . .SH ERRORS .TP [ENOMEM] .I Setenv or .I putenv failed because they were unable to allocate memory for the environment. .SH SEE ALSO csh(1), sh(1), execve(2), environ(7) .SH STANDARDS .B Getenv conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C'').