environment variable

Dynamic value that affects the behavior of processes on a computer

EntityQ400857

Also known as GNU Bash variable · shell variable · environmental variable

Subclass of: assignable variable
Part of: process
, operating system

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

An environment variable is a user-definable value that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer. Environment variables are part of the environment in which a process runs. For example, a running process can query the value of the TEMP environment variable to discover a suitable location to store temporary files, or the HOME or USERPROFILE variable to find the directory structure owned by the user running the process.

Overview

All data

24 statements · 8% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Facet of: operating system
Main Wikidata property: reads environment variable
sets environment variable
Used by: env

On other databases

10 identifiers linking environment variable across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited August 19, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). environment variable (Q400857). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/environment-variable-Q400857