Controlling the Process Environment

You can set and unset environment variables for processes created in the future to set up an environment different from the environment of the debugger and from the shell from which the debugger was invoked. When set, the environment variables apply to all new processes you debug.

Note:

The environment commands have no effect on the environment of any currently running process. The environment commands do not change or show the environment variables of the debugger or of the current process. They only affect the environment variables that will be used when a new process is created.

environment_variable_command

        : show_environment_variable_command

        | set_environment_variable_command

        | unset_environment_variable_command

To print either all the environment variables that are currently set or a specific one, use a show_environment_variable_command.

DBX Mode

show_environment_variable_command

        : printenv [ environment_variable_name ]

        | export

        | setenv

Note:

The export and setenv commands without any arguments are equivalent.

GDB Mode

show_environment_variable_command

        : show environment [ environment_variable_name ]

        | show env         [ environment_variable_name ]

The show env is a synonym for the show environment command.

If you do not specify the name of the environment variable to show, the debugger will print all the environment variables.

To add or change an environment variable, use a set_environment_variable_command. If the environment_variable_value is not specified, the environment variable value is set to "".

DBX Mode

set_environment_variable_command

        : export environment_variable_name  =

environment_variable_value

        | setenv environment_variable_name  

environment_variable_value

GDB Mode

set_environment_variable_command

        : set environment environment_variable_name [ [ = ]

environment_variable_value ]

        | set env         environment_variable_name [ [ = ]

environment_variable_value ]

environment_variable_value

        : string

To remove an environment variable, use the following commands:

DBX Mode

unset_environment_variable_command

        : unsetenv environment_variable_name

        | unsetenv *

If an asterisk (*) is specified, all environment variables are removed.

GDB Mode

unset_environment_variable_command

        : unset environment environment_variable_name

        | unset env         environment_variable_name

Note:

There is no command to simply return to the initial state the environment variables had when the debugger started. You must use set_environment_variable  commands and unset_environment_variable commands appropriately.

For example:

DBX Mode

(idb) printenv TOOLDIRECTORY

Error: Environment variable 'TOOLDIRECTORY' was not found in the environment.

(idb) setenv TOOLDIRECTORY /home/user/examples/tools

(idb) printenv TOOLDIRECTORY

TOOLDIRECTORY=/home/user/examples/tools

GDB Mode

(idb) show environment TOOLDIRECTORY

Environment variable "TOOLDIRECTORY" not defined.

(idb) set environment TOOLDIRECTORY /home/user/examples/tools

(idb) show environment TOOLDIRECTORY

TOOLDIRECTORY=/home/user/examples/tools

(idb) unset environment TOOLDIRECTORY

(idb) show environment TOOLDIRECTORY

Environment variable "TOOLDIRECTORY" not defined.