NAME

       setenv - change or add an environment variable

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       int setenv(const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite);

       int unsetenv(const char *name);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       setenv(), unsetenv():
           _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
               || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

       The  setenv()  function adds the variable name to the environment with the value value, if
       name does not already exist.  If name does exist in the environment,  then  its  value  is
       changed  to value if overwrite is nonzero; if overwrite is zero, then the value of name is
       not changed (and setenv() returns a success status).  This function makes  copies  of  the
       strings pointed to by name and value (by contrast with putenv(3)).

       The  unsetenv() function deletes the variable name from the environment.  If name does not
       exist in the environment, then the function succeeds, and the environment is unchanged.

RETURN VALUE

       The setenv() function returns zero on success, or -1 on error, with errno set to  indicate
       the cause of the error.

       The  unsetenv()  function  returns  zero  on  success,  or  -1 on error, with errno set to
       indicate the cause of the error.

ERRORS

       EINVAL name is NULL, points to a string of length 0, or contains an '=' character.

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to add a new variable to the environment.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌─────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────────┐
       │Interface            │ Attribute     │ Value               │
       ├─────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────────┤
       │setenv(), unsetenv() │ Thread safety │ MT-Unsafe const:env │
       └─────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────────┘

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, 4.3BSD.

NOTES

       POSIX.1 does not require setenv() or unsetenv() to be reentrant.

       Prior to glibc 2.2.2, unsetenv() was prototyped  as  returning  void;  more  recent  glibc
       versions follow the POSIX.1-compliant prototype shown in the SYNOPSIS.

BUGS

       POSIX.1  specifies  that if name contains an '=' character, then setenv() should fail with
       the error EINVAL; however, versions of glibc before 2.3.4 allowed an '=' sign in name.

SEE ALSO

       clearenv(3), getenv(3), putenv(3), environ(7)

COLOPHON

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