Unable to set environmental variable

ssuhaib · 04-08-2009, 05:42 AM

Hi,

When I type set varaible=somevalue ; export varable and then when I say echo $variable then nothing displays. How to set the variable or I am I doing anything wrong here?

The OS is RedHat 4.0 and shel is bash.

Thanks in advance

colucix · 04-08-2009, 05:46 AM

Check the syntax

Code:

$ MY_VAR=something; export MY_VAR
$ echo $MY_VAR
something

Be sure to avoid blank spaces around the equal sign. Also take in mind that the environment variable is assigned for the current shell session only. If you open a new shell, the newly assigned variable is not available. To make environment variables available every time you open a new shell session, put the assignment statement in $HOME/.bashrc.

GazL · 04-08-2009, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssuhaib

Hi,

When I type set varaible=somevalue ; export varable and then when I say echo $variable then nothing displays. How to set the variable or I am I doing anything wrong here?

The OS is RedHat 4.0 and shel is bash.

Thanks in advance

Well, if your typing is as inconsistent as above (3 different spellings of variable) then it's probably no wonder. (sorry, couldn't resist!)

BTW, on bash, there's no need to separate the export. you can also do

Code:

export MY_VAR="wibble"