Accessing system wide environment variables inside a bash script

Question

I've added a system wide environment variable in /etc/environment. I want to access this variable in a bash script. Is there any way to access it?

There is no such thing as a "system-wide environment variable". They only exist per process. — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Jul 04 '14 at 05:55
This might be useful: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1464253/global-environment-variables-in-a-shell-script — nil, Jul 04 '14 at 05:58

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '14 at 05:57

4

Assuming that PATH is an environmental variable, also in /etc/environment, I can access path in a script like this:

#!/bin/sh


echo $PATH

So what's wrong with your variable?

answered Jul 04 '14 at 05:57

sestus

I was able to print the path in my bash script.But the new variable I set recently is not reflecting in the script.Do I need a system reboot to take effect? – NagaLakshmi Jul 04 '14 at 06:01
Ok thats something different. It's like exporting PATH into "something" in a bash session. The changes last only for this session. If you want to change the value of the PATH permantly, your script may need to edit /etc/environment (or do some export in .bashrc and then source .bashrc). Hope it helps – sestus Jul 04 '14 at 06:11

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