setenv 1 user commands nosh
setenv set an environment variable then chain
`setenv` var val next-prog

## Note

C-shells have a built-in `setenv` command that does not chain. See the manual for each individual shell for its built-in command.

## Description

`setenv` is a chain-loading utility that sets the environment variable var to the value val and then chain loads to next-prog with the execvp 3 function.

next-prog may contain its own command line options, which `setenv` will ignore.

An empty val is not the same as unsetting the variable. For that, see unsetenv 1.

If either var or val contain an equals character, counter-intuitive things will happen to the environment.

## Bugs

As of version 1.34 this program no longer employs the GNU C library nor the BSD C library for environment variable handling. The previously documented workaround for those libraries' having memory leaks in their setenv 3 and clearenv 3 functions, is therefore no longer necessary.

## See also

- appendpath 1

- prependpath 1

- envdir 1

- read-conf 1

- printenv 1

## Author

Jonathan de Boyne Pollard