Skip to Content
Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition
book

Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

by Arnold Robbins
October 2005
Intermediate to advanced
908 pages
46h 42m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Other Shell Variables

The following variables are not automatically set by the shell, although many of them can influence the shell’s behavior. They are typically used in your .profile file, where you can define them to suit your needs. Variables can be assigned values by issuing commands of the form:

variable=value

This list includes the type of value expected when defining these variables. Those that are specific to the Bash shell are marked as (B). Those that are specific to the Korn shell are marked as (K). Those that are specific to ksh93 are marked (K93).

CDPATH= dirs

Directories searched by cd; allows shortcuts in changing directories; unset by default.

COLUMNS= n

Screen’s column width; used in line edit modes and select lists.

COMPREPLY=( words ... )

(B) Array variable from which Bash reads the possible completions generated by a completion function.

EDITOR= file

(K) Pathname of line edit mode to turn on (can end in emacs or vi); used when VISUAL is not set.

EMACS

(B) If the value starts with t, Bash assumes it’s running in an Emacs buffer and disables line editing.

ENV= file

Name of script that gets executed at start-up; useful for storing alias and function definitions. For example, ENV=$HOME/.kshrc.

FCEDIT= file

Editor used by fc command (default is /bin/ed). Obsoleted in ksh93 by HISTEDIT.

FIGNORE= pattern

(K93) Pattern describing the set of filenames to ignore during pattern matching. (B) Similar: colon-separated list of patterns describing ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

The Art of UNIX Programming

The Art of UNIX Programming

Eric Steven Raymond
Learning the Unix Operating System, 5th Edition

Learning the Unix Operating System, 5th Edition

John Strang, Grace Todino, Jerry Peek
Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition

Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition

Jerry Peek, Shelley Powers, Tim O'Reilly, Mike Loukides
UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, 5th Edition

UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, 5th Edition

Trent R. Hein, Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596100299Errata Page