TWiki > Know > EnvironmentVariables	TWiki webs: %WIKIWEBLIST%
	Know . { Readme | Changes | Index | Search | Go }

Environment Variables

• Environment Variables
  • What are environment variables?
  • Setting Environment Variables
    • Windows XP
    • Linux/FreeBSD/Mac OS X
      • Bash

What are environment variables?

You may also find it useful to set Java Home? and jEdit Home.

Setting Environment Variables

Windows XP

1. Go to the "Advanced" tab of the "System" control panel
2. Click the "Environment Variables" button at the bottom
3. If you"re setting up java for yourself, use the "User properties for ___" panel
   • If you want to set up java for all users, use the "System properties" panel.
   • User properties override system properties
   • you cannot use a user property inside a system property

Use ";" to separate path elements
Use %JAVA_HOME% syntax to access the values of environment variables

Note: Changes will not affect open command prompts.

Linux/FreeBSD/Mac OS X

Bash

1. edit your .bashrc or .bash_profile
2. add a line like export VARNAME=value for each variable you want to set

Use ":" to separate path elements
Use $JAVA_HOME syntax to access the values of environment variables

Note: Changes will take effect the next time you login/open a terminal. You can run the .bashrc or .bash_profile after editing make changes affect the current session.

Note: I believe Bash became the default shell in Mac OS X 10.3, before that it was tcsh.)