setenv(3)

NAME
setenv - change or add an environment variable

LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)

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 <= 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
setenv() and unsetenv() functions return zero on success, or -1 on error, with errno set to indicate 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
 | Thread safety | MT-Unsafe const:env

STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, 4.3BSD.

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.

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

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

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