Environment variables
AFSUSER (+)
Equivalent to the afsuser shell variable.
COLUMNS The number of columns in the terminal.
DISPLAY Used by X Window System. If set, the shell does not set autologout (q.v.)
EDITOR The pathname to a default editor. See also the VISUAL environ-
ment variable and the run-fg-editor editor command.
GROUP (+)
Equivalent to the group shell variable.
HOME Equivalent to the home shell variable.
HOST (+)
Initialized to the name of the machine on which the shell is
running, as determined by the gethostname(2) system call.
HOSTTYPE (+)
Initialized to the type of machine on which the shell is run-
ning, as determined at compile time. This variable is obsolete
and will be removed in a future version.
HPATH (+)
A colon-separated list of directories in which the run-help
editor command looks for command documentation.
LANG Gives the preferred character environment.
LC_CTYPE
If set, only ctype character handling is changed.
LINES The number of lines in the terminal.
LS_COLORS
The format of this variable is reminiscent of the termcap(5)
file format; a colon-separated list of expressions of the form
"xx=string", where "xx" is a two-character variable name. The
variables with their associated defaults are:
no 0 Normal (non-filename) text
fi 0 Regular file
di 01;34 Directory
ln 01;36 Symbolic link
pi 33 Named pipe (FIFO)
so 01;35 Socket
do 01;35 Door
bd 01;33 Block device
cd 01;32 Character device
ex 01;32 Executable file
mi (none) Missing file (defaults to fi)
or (none) Orphaned symbolic link (defaults to ln)
lc ^[[ Left code
rc m Right code
ec (none) End code (replaces lc+no+rc)
You need to include only the variables you want to change from
the default.
File names can also be colorized based on filename extension.
This is specified in the LS_COLORS variable using the syntax
"*ext=string". For example, using ISO 6429 codes, to color all
C-language source files blue you would specify "*.c=34". This
would color all files ending in .c in blue (34) color.
Control characters can be written either in C-style-escaped
notation, or in stty-like ^-notation. The C-style notation
adds ^[ for Escape, _ for a normal space character, and ? for
Delete. In addition, the ^[ escape character can be used to
override the default interpretation of ^[, ^, : and =.
Each file will be written as <lc> <color-code> <rc> <filename>
<ec>. If the <ec> code is undefined, the sequence <lc> <no>
<rc> will be used instead. This is generally more convenient
to use, but less general. The left, right and end codes are
provided so you don't have to type common parts over and over
again and to support weird terminals; you will generally not
need to change them at all unless your terminal does not use
ISO 6429 color sequences but a different system.
If your terminal does use ISO 6429 color codes, you can compose
the type codes (i.e., all except the lc, rc, and ec codes) from
numerical commands separated by semicolons. The most common
commands are:
0 to restore default color
1 for brighter colors
4 for underlined text
5 for flashing text
30 for black foreground
31 for red foreground
32 for green foreground
33 for yellow (or brown) foreground
34 for blue foreground
35 for purple foreground
36 for cyan foreground
37 for white (or gray) foreground
40 for black background
41 for red background
42 for green background
43 for yellow (or brown) background
44 for blue background
45 for purple background
46 for cyan background
47 for white (or gray) background
Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.
A few terminal programs do not recognize the default end code
properly. If all text gets colorized after you do a directory
listing, try changing the no and fi codes from 0 to the numeri-
cal codes for your standard fore- and background colors.
MACHTYPE (+)
The machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as
determined at compile time.
NOREBIND (+)
If set, printable characters are not rebound to self-insert-
command.
OSTYPE (+)
The operating system, as determined at compile time.
PATH A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for exe-
cutables. Equivalent to the path shell variable, but in a dif-
ferent format.
In tcsh edit the ~/.tcshrc file and add a line like
set path = ( $path /Developer/Tools )
tcsh will then update 'PATH' based on 'path'
In bash edit the ~/.profile file and add a line like
export PATH="$PATH:/Developer/Tools"
PWD (+) Equivalent to the cwd shell variable, but not synchronized to
it; updated only after an actual directory change.
REMOTEHOST (+)
The host from which the user has logged in remotely, if this is
the case and the shell is able to determine it. Set only if
the shell was so compiled; see the version shell variable.
SHLVL (+)
Equivalent to the shlvl shell variable.
SYSTYPE (+)
The current system type. (Domain/OS only)
TERM Equivalent to the term shell variable.
TERMCAP The terminal capability string.
USER Equivalent to the user shell variable.
VENDOR The vendor, as determined at compile time.
VISUAL The pathname to a default full-screen editor. See also the
EDITOR environment variable and the run-fg-editor editor com-
mand.
Related commands:
OS X Syntax