ENV(1) | General Commands Manual | ENV(1)

# 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), environ(7)

# 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.

July 28, 2024 | Debian