How can I set environmental variables in bash using setenv?

Question

I've a file containing all the environmental variables needed for an application to run in the following format...

setenv DISPLAY invest7@example.com
setenv HOST example.com
setenv HOSTNAME sk
...

How would I set the env. variables in bash using the above file? Is there a way to somehow use setenv command in bash?

It seems a silly question, but you got a very good answer, so well done. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Mar 21 '11 at 21:24

Eugene Yarmash · Answer 1 · 2011-03-22T08:20:08.573

6

You can define a function named setenv:

function setenv() { export "$1=$2"; }

To set the envariables, source the file:

. your_file

edited Mar 22 '11 at 08:20

answered Mar 21 '11 at 19:39

Eugene Yarmash

142,882
41
325
378

2

The `eval` isn't necessary and avoiding it reduces some security risks: `setenv() { export "$1=$2"; }`. – Dennis Williamson Mar 22 '11 at 01:16

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 14 '16 at 11:08

1

This is an improved version.

# Mimic csh/tsch setenv
function setenv()
{
    if [ $# = 2 ]; then
        export $1=$2;
    else
        echo "Usage: setenv [NAME] [VALUE]";
    fi
}

edited Sep 14 '16 at 11:08

navid

566
6
15

answered May 09 '11 at 09:25

Nordlöw

11,838
10
52
99

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 27 '13 at 09:08

Here is a more complete version for ksh/bash. It behaves like csh/tcsh setenv regardless of the number of arguments.

setenv () {
    if (( $# == 0 )); then
        env
        return 0
    fi

    if [[ $1 == *[!A-Za-z0-9_]* ]]; then
        printf 'setenv: not a valid identifier -- %s\n' "$1" >&2
        return 1
    fi

    case $# in
        1)
            export "$1"
            ;;
        2)
            export "$1=$2"
            ;;
        *)
            printf 'Usage: setenv [VARIABLE [VALUE]]\n' >&2
            return 1
    esac
}

How can I set environmental variables in bash using setenv?

3 Answers3