Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 16:10:10 -0500 (EST) From: rjwohlfar@bigfoot.com Message-ID: <05d9c11082103c0APP01@galaxyinternet.net> Subject: Re: [SLE] $SOMETHING whereabouts On 3 Dec, Eelco of Viola wrote:
Hello,
Reading up on linux and configuration script I noticed a lot of "pointers" beginning with $ and then something like KDEDIR,PATH or EXTERNAL_SERVER etc. Where kan i find out how what is called and how to use those $ thingies because they seem usefull :-)
Is there a file containing all those $ thingies or what, they seem to pop up everyware $HOME, $ME, $ANNYWARE, $LOG to name a few others....
I can usualy tell eher they are refering to..Just curieus on how to use them(I seem to be repeating myself) annyway thanks for shedding some light on the matter Hopefully'...
greets Eelco
Those "$SOMETHING"'s are environment variables. The environment contains information for an application from the command shell. Environment variables are the vehicle for accessing that information. The shell recognizes "$" as starting a variable name. Any program can create environment variables. So there really is no central location to find them all. But the most common variables will be set in "/etc/profile" or "/etc/bashrc". Some of these variables are defined by the shell ($HOME and $PATH). See the the man page for "bash". By default, SuSE uses the bash shell. The man page lists its variables. I suggest reading up on Linux shells, specifically 'bash'. A good Linux tutorial book will definitely have a section on the shell and environment variables. -- Robert Wohlfarth rjwohlfar@bigfoot.com "My theory's right. Reality needs to be fixed."