---
name: "env"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/env"
---

# env(1)

set and print environment

## NAME

**env** – set and print environment

## SYNOPSIS

**env** \[**-i**\] \[**-u** *name*\]\[ *name*=*value* *...*\]\[ *utility* \[*argument* *...*\]\]

## DESCRIPTION

**env** executes *utility* after modifying the environment as specified on the command line. The option *name*=*value* specifies an environment variable, *name*, with a value of *value*.

The options are as follows:

- **-i**

  Causes **env** to completely ignore the environment it inherits.

- **-u** *name*

  Remove *name* from the environment.

If no *utility* is specified, **env** prints out the names and values of the variables in the environment, with one *name*=*value* pair per line.

**env** doesn't handle commands with equal (‘=’) signs in their names, for obvious reasons.

## EXIT STATUS

The **env** utility exits with one of the following values:

- 0

  **env** completed successfully and, if *utility* was specified, it was invoked and completed successfully too.

- 1

  An invalid command line option was passed to **env** and *utility* was not invoked, or *utility* was invoked but failed with exit status 1.

- 2–125, 128–255

  *utility* was invoked but failed with this exit status; see its manual page for more information.

- 126

  *utility* was found but could not be invoked, or it was invoked but failed with exit status 126.

- 127

  *utility* could not be found, or it was invoked but failed with exit status 127.

## SEE ALSO

[execvp(3)](/execvp/3.md), [environ(7)](/environ/7.md)

## STANDARDS

The **env** utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification. The flag \[**-u**\] is an extension to that specification.

The historic **-** option has been deprecated but is still supported in this implementation.