Score:0

Ubuntu

how to read an enviroment variable declared in /etc/environment from bash?

Nicholas Saunders

11/21/22, 10:45 AM

How do I read or access the TRAVERSE environment variable below?

nicholas@gondor:~$ 
nicholas@gondor:~$ printenv | grep PATH
WINDOWPATH=2
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
nicholas@gondor:~$ 
nicholas@gondor:~$ printenv | grep TRAVERSE
nicholas@gondor:~$ 
nicholas@gondor:~$ cat /etc/environment
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin"



TRAVERSE="/home/nicholas/some_directory"
nicholas@gondor:~$

I ran source ~/.bashrc without result. I expect that if I were to reboot the variable would be readable, but that seems extreme.

131

1 + 7

command-line

bash

scripts

environment-variables

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

11/21/22, 10:53 AM

Did you relogin after having added the TRAVERSE variable to `/etc/environment`?

Nicholas Saunders

11/21/22, 11:03 AM

no, I was trying to avoid that. I plan to muck around with some vars for a bit. that's the only way @GunnarHjalmarsson to reload or refresh the vars?

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

11/21/22, 11:10 AM

I'd say it's the "right" way. But you can simply do `source /etc/environment` which will update the current bash process with your latest changes. Well, new variables won't be exported to the environment that way, but only available as shell variables.

raj

11/21/22, 11:13 AM

By definition, `/etc/environment` is read at login, by the login process, before shell or GUI is started, and only at that time. So relogin is a proper way to apply changes in this file.

muru

11/21/22, 11:24 AM

The full syntax of `/etc/environment` differs a lot from that of shell scripts, so while your particular file could be sourced, not all valid environment files can be.

muru

11/21/22, 11:25 AM

If you just want it for your current shell, why not just set and export the variable yourself?

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

11/21/22, 1:52 PM

@muru: Possibly you mix it up with the `~/.pam_environment` syntax.

Score:1

Ubuntu

SEWTGIYWTKHNTDS

11/21/22, 11:25 AM

If you are using the bash shell

. /etc/environment

without the dot the variables defined in the script file are not passed to your current shell.

For Example:

$ cat b.sh
TRAVERSE="Another SomeThing"
$ echo $TRAVERSE

$ ./b.sh
$ echo $TRAVERSE

$ . ./b.sh
$ echo $TRAVERSE
Another SomeThing
$

0 + 2

SEWTGIYWTKHNTDS

11/21/22, 11:33 AM

`source /etc/environment` should work though

Nicholas Saunders

11/21/22, 8:03 PM

yes, `source /etc/environment` works. thanks, it was a bit late at night.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: how to read an enviroment variable declared in /etc/environment from bash?

TH: จะอ่านตัวแปรสภาพแวดล้อมที่ประกาศใน /etc/environment จาก bash ได้อย่างไร

RO: cum se citește o variabilă de mediu declarată în /etc/environment din bash?

RU: как прочитать переменную среды, объявленную в /etc/environment, из bash?

VI: cách đọc một biến môi trường được khai báo trong/etc/môi trường từ bash?

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