Difference between environment variable value for "ECHO %foo%" versus "%foo%"

Question

What is the difference between

ECHO %foo%

and simply

%foo%

In my case the first prints x and the second prints y, where the "correct" value, the one I want to be returned through Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("foo") is the ECHOed one, x.

I can't figure out how to fix y to be x. When I run

SET

I see

foo=x

which is what I expect. Where is y coming from?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 21 '18 at 21:25

4

ECHO %foo% calls the ECHO command which outputs the value of the foo environment variable.

%foo% calls the command that's named by the foo environment variable found in the current directory or on your path.

You're probably seeing y since the command x outputs that.

answered Dec 21 '18 at 21:25

Jeff Mercado

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How can I set the variable returned by `Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("foo")` to be `x`? – See Sharp Dec 21 '18 at 21:35
@SeeSharp `SET "foo=x"` – Furkan Kambay Dec 21 '18 at 21:52
@SeeSharp: There's also `Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(string, string)` and `Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(string, string, EnvironmentVariableTarget)` as well. – Jeff Mercado Dec 21 '18 at 23:05

Difference between environment variable value for "ECHO %foo%" versus "%foo%"

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