Environment variables in Bash are key-value pairs that can influence the behavior of processes and scripts. They are essential for configuring the shell environment and can be used to store data that commands and scripts can access.

Setting Environment Variables

To set an environment variable in Bash, you use the export command followed by the variable name, an equal sign, and the value you want to assign. For example:

If the value contains spaces, enclose it in double quotes:

You can then access the variable using the $ symbol:

Setting Environment Variables Using Bash Interpolation

Sometimes, you may need to set an environment variable to the result of a command. This can be done using Bash interpolation:

For example, to store the current shell in a variable:

Making Environment Variables Permanent