Hi Mike, On 8/7/07, Mike McCarty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I do believe he's got it... almost. Errr... She :-) If ENV_VAR is an environment variable, then the shell interprets > $ENV_VAR as a request to remove $ENV_VAR from the command, and replace > it with the value of ENV_VAR. So... > > $ ENV_VAR1="Fred Flintstone" > $ ENV_VAR2=$ENV_VAR > > sets ENV_VAR2 to be the value of ENV_VAR at the time of the assignment, > or "Fred Flintstone". > > $ ENV_VAR2=ENV_VAR > > sets ENV_VAR2 to be "ENV_VAR1". This is confusing me. I understand that if ENV_VAR is an environment variable than $ENV_VAR represents ENV_VARs value. But this I don't understand: $ ENV_VAR1="Fred Flintstone" $ ENV_VAR2=$ENV_VAR sets ENV_VAR2 to be the value of ENV_VAR at the time of the assignment, or "Fred Flintstone". Did you mean $ ENV_VAR2=$ENV_VAR1 (notice the 1 at the end)? If so, than it's clear. Or was the value of ENV_VAR at the time of the assignment also "Fred Flintstone", so that both ENV_VAR and ENV_VAR1 have the same value? Or do you mean that ENV_VAR1 & ENV_VAR2 are subsequent values of ENV_VAR? $ PATH=xyz:$PATH > > sets PATH (not $PATH) to be the string "xyz:" followed by > the value PATH had before the assignment took place. OK, this is clear. You might also look into the use of ~/.bashrc > BTW, it's common to use $HOME instead of "~" as not all tools > know to expand it when it is used in environment variables. > Like this: > > $ export PATH=$HOME/scripts:$PATH OK, done. Didn't know that either. Greetings and many thanks for explaining, Manon.
