Environment Variables

The following environment variables are often used:

$HOME     → User directory
~             → User directory
$PWD       → current directory
$OLDPWD → the former directory
$PATH     → a list of directories the system searches for programs in the given sequence.

Examples:

$ echo $HOME
  /home/user1 → User directory.
$ echo ~
  /home/user1 → User directory.

$ env → environment. Displays a list of environment variables. Can be used to change the environment (and provides the possibility to run programs with different environment).

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