How to set an environment variable for just one command in csh/tcsh

Question

In bash, I can set a temporary environment variable for just one command like this:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/foo/bar myprogram

Can I do something similar in csh / tcsh? I could do

setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /foo/bar; myprogram; unsetenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH

, but that will lose any previous value the variable had.

score 79 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '11 at 07:52

79

In csh, you can either try env:

% env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/foo/bar myprogram

or, a subshell:

% (setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /foo/bar; myprogram)

answered May 10 '11 at 07:52

dogbane

3

I got tripped up by the lack of an equal sign in the second version. Shows I need to read carefully ;) – drewish Apr 25 '13 at 17:51
3

The first one is using an external program (env) which is not tcsh, hence you'll loose your context, such as aliases. I would hence suggest rather using the second one. – orzel Dec 17 '17 at 01:40

1 Answers1