Apr

How to Create Environment Variables in Linux

This tutorial is still about creating environment variables, just like my last tutorial. But now I create environment variable in Linux, not Windows.

To create or edit environment variable in linux is very easy. You may create or edit environment variable from terminal.

The syntax is: export VAR_NAME=var_content

For example:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/sun-java6

Yes, very easy right? If you want to append content to an existing variable, you can’t use command above. Command above will create a new variable, not append it. To append content, you may use command below.

The syntax is: export VAR_NAME=$VAR_NAME:var_content

For example:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/sun-java6/bin

or, if you have created JAVA_HOME variable, you may use command below:

export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin

Easy right?

Note:
To define a variable, you don’t need ‘$‘ character. But when you use it (for example when you append variable content), don’t forget ‘$‘ character.