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Environment Variables

Environment variables in Linux are dynamic values that can affect the way running processes behave on a computer. They are used to store configuration settings and can be accessed by applications and scripts to modify their behavior based on the environment they are running in.

karchunt@kcserver:~$ env
SHELL=/bin/bash
WSL2_GUI_APPS_ENABLED=1
WSL_DISTRO_NAME=Ubuntu
WT_SESSION=d21de821-e3d5-4bfc-a89a-e6af4dacef06
NAME=kcserver
PWD=/home/karchunt
LOGNAME=karchunt
HOME=/home/karchunt
LANG=C.UTF-8
WSL_INTEROP=/run/WSL/511_interop
LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=00:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=00:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.7z=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.avif=01;35:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.webp=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.m4a=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.opus=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:*~=00;90:*#=00;90:*.bak=00;90:*.crdownload=00;90:*.dpkg-dist=00;90:*.dpkg-new=00;90:*.dpkg-old=00;90:*.dpkg-tmp=00;90:*.old=00;90:*.orig=00;90:*.part=00;90:*.rej=00;90:*.rpmnew=00;90:*.rpmorig=00;90:*.rpmsave=00;90:*.swp=00;90:*.tmp=00;90:*.ucf-dist=00;90:*.ucf-new=00;90:*.ucf-old=00;90:
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
LESSCLOSE=/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s
TERM=xterm-256color
LESSOPEN=| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s
USER=karchunt
DISPLAY=:0
SHLVL=1
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000/
WSLENV=WT_SESSION:WT_PROFILE_ID:
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/wsl/lib:/mnt/c/Python313/Scripts/:/mnt/c/Python313/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32:/mnt/c/WINDOWS:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Program Files/dotnet/:/mnt/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA App/NvDLISR:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/mnt/c/Program Files/Docker/Docker/resources/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/nodejs/:/mnt/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/Git/cmd:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/.local/bin:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/mnt/c/msys64/ucrt64/bin:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Roaming/npm:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WinGet/Packages/Gyan.FFmpeg.Essentials_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe/ffmpeg-8.0-essentials_build/bin:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Roaming/Python/Python313/Scripts:/mnt/c/Users/karchunt/AppData/Local/Programs/Antigravity/bin:/snap/bin
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
HOSTTYPE=x86_64
PULSE_SERVER=unix:/mnt/wslg/PulseServer
WT_PROFILE_ID={dd0ed5a2-64ae-59a9-b912-8732a7a6dfdd}
_=/usr/bin/env

Create Environment Variables

You can create environment variables in Linux using the export command in the terminal. For example:

karchunt@kcserver:~$ export MY_VARIABLE="Hello, World!"
karchunt@kcserver:~$ echo $MY_VARIABLE

If you want to persist the environment variable after a reboot, you can add the export command to your shell’s configuration file (e.g, ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile).

  • For system wide environment variables, you can add them to /etc/environment or create a new file in /etc/profile.d/.

Remove Environment Variables

To remove an environment variable, you can use the unset command. For example:

karchunt@kcserver:~$ unset MY_VARIABLE
karchunt@kcserver:~$ echo $MY_VARIABLE

PATH Environment Variable

The PATH environment variable is a special variable that tells the shell where to look for executable files when you run a command. It contains a colon-separated list of directories. When you type a command, the shell searches through these directories in order to find the executable file.

You can view the current PATH variable by running:

karchunt@kcserver:~$ echo $PATH

If you’re trying to execute a command that’s not found, you may need to add the directory containing that command to your PATH variable. You can do this by using the export command:

karchunt@kcserver:~$ export PATH=$PATH:/new/directory/path

This command appends /new/directory/path to the existing PATH variable. To make this change permanent, add the export command to your shell’s configuration file as mentioned earlier.

Here is what you can know the command path.

karchunt@kcserver:~$ which python3
/usr/bin/python3
karchunt@kcserver:~$ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin/python3
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