Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
NAME
environ - user environment
DESCRIPTION
When a process begins execution, one of the exec family of functions makes available an array of strings called theenvironment; see exec(2). By convention, these strings have
the form variable=value, for example, PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin.These environmental variables provide a way to make informa-
tion about a program's environment available to programs.
A name may be placed in the environment by the export com-
mand and name=value arguments in sh(1), or by one of the exec functions. It is unwise to conflict with certain shellvariables such as MAIL, PS1, PS2, and IFS that are fre-
quently exported by .profile files; see profile(4).The following environmental variables can be used by appli-
cations and are expected to be set in the target run-time
environment.
HOME The name of the user's login directory, set by login(1) from the password file; see passwd(4). LANGThe string used to specify internationalization informa-
tion that allows users to work with different national conventions. The setlocale(3C) function checks the LANGenvironment variable when it is called with "" as the
locale argument. LANG is used as the default locale ifthe corresponding environment variable for a particular
category is unset or null. If, however, LC_ALL is set
to a valid, non-empty value, its contents are used to
override both the LANG and the other LC_* variables. For
example, when invoked as setlocale(LC_CTYPE, ""), setlo-
cale() will query the LC_CTYPE environment variable
first to see if it is set and non-null. If LC_CTYPE is
not set or null, then setlocale() will check the LANGenvironment variable to see if it is set and non-null.
If both LANG and LC_CTYPE are unset or NULL, the default
"C" locale will be used to set the LC_CTYPE category.
Most commands will invoke setlocale(LC_ALL, "") prior to
any other processing. This allows the command to be used with different national conventions by setting theappropriate environment variables.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
The following environment variables correspond to each
category of setlocale(3C):LC_ALL
If set to a valid, non-empty string value, override
the values of LANG and all the other LC_*variables.
LC_COLLATE
This category specifies the character collation sequence being used. The information corresponding to this category is stored in a database created bythe localedef(1) command. This environment vari-
able affects strcoll(3C) and strxfrm(3C).LC_CTYPE
This category specifies character classification,character conversion, and widths of multibyte char-
acters. When LC_CTYPE is set to a valid value, the
calling utility can display and handle text and file names containing valid characters for that locale;Extended Unix Code (EUC) characters where any indi-
vidual character can be 1, 2, or 3 bytes wide; and EUC characters of 1, 2, or 3 column widths. Thedefault "C" locale corresponds to the 7-bit ASCII
character set; only characters from ISO 8859-1 are
valid. The information corresponding to this category is stored in a database created by thelocaledef() command. This environment variable is
used by ctype(3C), mblen(3C), and many commands, such as cat(1), ed(1), ls(1), and vi(1).LC_MESSAGES
This category specifies the language of the message database being used. For example, an application may have one message database with French messages, andanother database with German messages. Message data-
bases are created by the mkmsgs(1) command. Thisenvironment variable is used by exstr(1), gettxt(1),
srchtxt(1), gettxt(3C), and gettext(3C).LC_MONETARY
This category specifies the monetary symbols and delimiters used for a particular locale. TheSunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 2
Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
information corresponding to this category is stored in a database created by the localedef(1) command.This environment variable is used by localeconv(3C).
LC_NUMERIC
This category specifies the decimal and thousands delimiters. The information corresponding to this category is stored in a database created by the localedef() command. The default C locale corresponds to "." as the decimal delimiter and nothousands delimiter. This environment variable is
used by localeconv(3C), printf(3C), and strtod(3C).LC_TIME
This category specifies date and time formats. The information corresponding to this category is stored in a database specified in localedef(). The default C locale corresponds to U.S. date and time formats.This environment variable is used by many commands
and functions; for example: at(1), calendar(1), date(1), strftime(3C), and getdate(3C). MSGVERB Controls which standard format message components fmtmsg selects when messages are displayed to stderr; see fmtmsg(1) and fmtmsg(3C). NETPATHA colon-separated list of network identifiers. A network
identifier is a character string used by the Network Selection component of the system to provideapplication-specific default network search paths. A
network identifier must consist of non-null characters
and must have a length of at least 1. No maximum length is specified. Network identifiers are normally chosen by the system administrator. A network identifier is alsothe first field in any /etc/netconfig file entry. NET-
PATH thus provides a link into the /etc/netconfig file and the information about a network contained in that network's entry. /etc/netconfig is maintained by the system administrator. The library routines described ingetnetpath(3NSL) access the NETPATH environment vari-
able.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 3
Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
NLSPATH Contains a sequence of templates which catopen(3C) andgettext(3C) use when attempting to locate message cata-
logs. Each template consists of an optional prefix, one or more substitution fields, a filename and an optional suffix. For example:NLSPATH="/system/nlslib/%N.cat"
defines that catopen() should look for all message cata-
logs in the directory /system/nlslib, where the catalog name should be constructed from the name parameterpassed to catopen(), %N, with the suffix .cat.
Substitution fields consist of a % symbol, followed by a
single-letter keyword. The following keywords are
currently defined:%N
The value of the name parameter passed to catopen().%L
The value of LANG or LC_MESSAGES.
%l
The language element from LANG or LC_MESSAGES.
%t
The territory element from LANG or LC_MESSAGES.
%c
The codeset element from LANG or LC_MESSAGES.
%%
A single % character.
An empty string is substituted if the specified value isnot currently defined. The separators "_" and "." are
not included in %t and %c substitutions.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
Templates defined in NLSPATH are separated by colons (:). A leading colon or two adjacent colons (::) isequivalent to specifying %N. For example:
NLSPATH=":%N.cat:/nlslib/%L/%N.cat"
indicates to catopen() that it should look for the requested message catalog in name, name.cat and/nlslib/$LANG/name.cat. For gettext(), %N automatically
maps to "messages". If NLSPATH is unset or NULL, catopen() and gettext()call setlocale(3C), which checks LANG and the LC_*
variables to locate the message catalogs. NLSPATH will normally be set up on a system wide basis (in /etc/profile) and thus makes the location and naming conventions associated with message catalogs transparent to both programs and users. PATH The sequence of directory prefixes that sh(1), time(1),nice(1), nohup(1), and other utilities apply in search-
ing for a file known by an incomplete path name. The prefixes are separated by colons (:). login(1) sets PATH=/usr/bin. For more detail, see sh(1).SEV_LEVEL
Define severity levels and associate and print strings with them in standard format error messages; see addseverity(3C), fmtmsg(1), and fmtmsg(3C). TERM The kind of terminal for which output is to be prepared. This information is used by commands, such as vi(1), which may exploit special capabilities of that terminal. TZTimezone information. The contents of this environment
variable are used by the functions ctime(3C), localtime(3C), strftime(3C), and mktime(3C) to override the default timezone. The value of TZ has one of the two formats (spaces inserted for clarity):SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 5
Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
:characters or std offset dst offset, rule If TZ is of the first format (that is, if the first character is a colon (:)), or if TZ is not of the second format, then TZ designates a path to a timezone database file relative to /usr/share/lib/zoneinfo/, ignoring a leading colon if one exists. Otherwise, TZ is of the second form, which when expanded is as follows: stdoffset[dst[offset][,start[/time],end[/time]]] std and dst Indicate no less than three, nor more than{TZNAME_MAX}, bytes that are the designation for the
standard (std) or the alternative (dst, such as Day-
light Savings Time) timezone. Only std is required; if dst is missing, then the alternative time does not apply in this timezone. Each of these fields can occur in either of two formats, quoted or unquoted: o In the quoted form, the first character isthe less-than ('<') character and the last
character is the greater-than ('>') charac-
ter. All characters between these quoting characters are alphanumeric characters from the portable character set in the currentlocale, the plus-sign ('+') character, or
the minus-sign ('-') character. The std and
dst fields in this case do not include the quoting characters. o In the unquoted form, all characters in these fields are alphabetic characters from the portable character set in the current locale. The interpretation of these fields is unspecified if either field is less than three bytes (except for the case when dst is missing), more than{TZNAME_MAX} bytes, or if they contain characters
other than those specified. offsetSunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 6
Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
Indicate the value one must add to the local time to arrive at Coordinated Universal Time. The offset has the form: hh[:mm[:ss]] The minutes (mm) and seconds (ss) are optional. The hour (hh) is required and can be a single digit. Theoffset following std is required. If no offset fol-
lows dst, daylight savings time is assumed to be one hour ahead of standard time. One or more digits can be used. The value is always interpreted as a decimal number. The hour must be between 0 and 24, and the minutes (and seconds), if present, must be between 0 and 59. Out of range values can causeunpredictable behavior. If preceded by a "-", the
timezone is east of the Prime Meridian. Otherwise,it is west of the Prime Meridian (which can be indi-
cated by an optional preceding "+" sign). start/time,end/time Indicate when to change to and back from daylight savings time, where start/time describes when the change from standard time to daylight savings time occurs, and end/time describes when the change back occurs. Each time field describes when, in current local time, the change is made.The formats of start and end are one of the follow-
ing: Jn The Julian day n (1 < n < 365). Leap days are not counted. That is, in all years, February 28is day 59 and March 1 is day 60. It is impossi-
ble to refer to the occasional February 29. nThe zero-based Julian day (0 < n < 365). Leap
days are counted, and it is possible to refer to February 29. Mm.n.d The d^th day, (0 < d < 6) of week n of month mSunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 7
Standards, Environments, and Macros environ(5)
of the year (1 < n < 5, 1 < m < 12), where week5 means "the last d-day in month m" which may
occur in either the fourth or the fifth week). Week 1 is the first week in which the d^th day occurs. Day zero is Sunday. Implementation specific defaults are used for start and end if these optional fields are not specified. The time has the same format as offset except thatno leading sign ("-" or "+" ) is allowed. If time is
not specified, the default value is 02:00:00.SEE ALSO
cat(1), date(1), ed(1), fmtmsg(1), localedef(1), login(1), ls(1), mkmsgs(1), nice(1), nohup(1), sh(1), sort(1), time(1), vi(1), exec(2), addseverity(3C), catopen(3C), ctime(3C), ctype(3C), fmtmsg(3C), getdate(3C), getnetpath(3NSL), gettext(3C), gettxt(3C), localeconv(3C), mblen(3C), mktime(3C), printf(3C), setlocale(3C), strcoll(3C), strftime(3C), strtod(3C), strxfrm(3C), TIMEZONE(4), netconfig(4), passwd(4), profile(4)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 19 Nov 2002 8