---
name: "environ"
section: "7"
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/environ/7"
---

# environ(7)

user environment

## NAME

**environ** – user environment

## SYNOPSIS

*extern* *char* *\*\*environ*;

## DESCRIPTION

An array of strings called the “environment” is made available by [execve(2)](/execve/2.md) when a process begins. By convention these strings have the form *name*=*value*. The following variables are recognized by various commands:

- BLOCKSIZE

  The size of the block units used by several commands, most notably [df(1)](/df/1.md), [du(1)](/du/1.md), and [ls(1)](/ls/1.md). May be specified in units of a byte by specifying a number, in units of a kilobyte by specifying a number followed by ‘K’ or ‘k’, in units of a megabyte by specifying a number followed by ‘M’ or ‘m’, or in units of a gigabyte by specifying a number followed by ‘G’ or ‘g’. Sizes less than 512 bytes or greater than a gigabyte are ignored.

- EXINIT

  A list of startup commands read by [ex(1)](/ex/1.md) and [vi(1)](/vi/1.md).

- HOME

  The user's login directory, set by [login(1)](/login/1.md) from the password file [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md).

- LOGNAME

  The login name of the user.

- PATH

  The sequence of directories, separated by colons, searched by [csh(1)](/csh/1.md), [sh(1)](/sh/1.md), [ksh(1)](/ksh/1.md), [system(3)](/system/3.md), [execvp(3)](/execvp/3.md), etc. when looking for an executable file. Initially set to the value of \_PATH\_DEFPATH by [login(1)](/login/1.md), traditionally */usr/bin:/bin*, but expanded to include */usr/sbin*, */sbin*, */usr/X11R6/bin*, */usr/local/bin*, and */usr/local/sbin* in OpenBSD.

- PRINTER

  The name of the default printer to be used by [lpq(1)](/lpq/1.md), [lpr(1)](/lpr/1.md), and [lprm(1)](/lprm/1.md).

- PWD

  The current working directory.

- SHELL

  The full pathname of the user's login shell.

- TERM

  The kind of terminal for which output is to be prepared. This information is used by commands such as [mandoc(1)](/mandoc/1.md) which may exploit special terminal capabilities. See */usr/share/misc/termcap* ([termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md)) for a list of terminal types.

- TERMCAP

  The string describing the terminal in TERM, or, if it begins with a ‘/’, the name of the termcap file. See TERMPATH below, [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md), and [termcap(3)](/termcap/3.md).

- TERMPATH

  A sequence of pathnames of termcap files, separated by colons or spaces, which are searched for terminal descriptions in the order listed. Having no TERMPATH is equivalent to a TERMPATH of *$HOME/.termcap:/etc/termcap*. TERMPATH is ignored if TERMCAP contains a full pathname.

- TMPDIR

  The directory in which to store temporary files. Most applications use either */tmp* or */var/tmp*. Setting this variable will make them use another directory.

- TZ

  The time zone to use when displaying dates. The normal format is a pathname relative to */usr/share/zoneinfo*. For example, the command **env** **TZ=America/Los\_Angeles** **date** displays the current time in California. See [tzset(3)](/tzset/3.md) for more information.

- USER

  Deprecated synonym of LOGNAME (for backwards compatibility).

Further names may be placed in the environment by the **export** command and *name*=*value* arguments in [sh(1)](/sh/1.md), or by the **setenv** command if you use [csh(1)](/csh/1.md). It is unwise to change certain [sh(1)](/sh/1.md) variables that are frequently exported by *.profile* files, such as MAIL, PS1, PS2, and IFS, unless you know what you are doing.

The current environment variables can be printed with [env(1)](/env/1.md) or [printenv(1)](/printenv/1.md).

## SEE ALSO

[csh(1)](/csh/1.md), [env(1)](/env/1.md), [ex(1)](/ex/1.md), [login(1)](/login/1.md), [printenv(1)](/printenv/1.md), [sh(1)](/sh/1.md), [execve(2)](/execve/2.md), [execle(3)](/execle/3.md), [execvpe(3)](/execvpe/3.md), [getenv(3)](/getenv/3.md), [system(3)](/system/3.md), [termcap(3)](/termcap/3.md), [tzset(3)](/tzset/3.md), [termcap(5)](/termcap/5.md)

## HISTORY

An **environ** manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.