set(1) fish set(1)
NAME
set - handle environment variables.
Synopsis
set [SCOPE_OPTIONS]
set [OPTIONS] VARIABLE_NAME VALUES...
set [OPTIONS] VARIABLE_NAME[INDICES]... VALUES...
set (-q | --query) [SCOPE_OPTIONS] VARIABLE_NAMES...
set (-e | --erase) [SCOPE_OPTIONS] VARIABLE_NAME
set (-e | --erase) [SCOPE_OPTIONS] VARIABLE_NAME[INDICES]...
The set builtin causes fish to assign the variable VARIABLE_NAME the
values VALUES....
Description
o -e or --erase causes the specified environment variable to be erased
o -l or --local forces the specified environment variable to be given a
scope that is local to the current block, even if a variable with the
given name exists and is non-local
o -g or --global causes the specified environment variable to be given
a global scope. Non-global variables disappear when the block they
belong to ends
o -U or --universal causes the specified environment variable to be
given a universal scope. If this option is supplied, the variable
will be shared between all the current users fish instances on the
current computer, and will be preserved across restarts of the shell.
o -n or --names List only the names of all defined variables, not their
value
o -q or --query test if the specified variable names are defined. Does
not output anything, but the builtins exit status is the number of
variables specified that were not defined.
o -u or --unexport causes the specified environment not to be exported
to child processes
o -x or --export causes the specified environment variable to be
exported to child processes
If set is called with no arguments, the names and values of all
environment variables are printed. If some of the scope or export flags
have been given, only the variables matching the specified scope are
printed.
If a variable is set to more than one value, the variable will be an
array with the specified elements. If a variable is set to zero
elements, it will become an array with zero elements.
If the variable name is one or more array elements, such as PATH[1 3
7], only those array elements specified will be changed. When array
indices are specified to set, multiple arguments may be used to specify
additional indexes, e.g. set PATH[1] PATH[4] /bin /sbin. If you specify
a negative index when expanding or assigning to an array variable, the
index will be calculated from the end of the array. For example, the
index -1 means the last index of an array.
The scoping rules when creating or updating a variable are:
1. If a variable is explicitly set to either universal, global or
local, that setting will be honored. If a variable of the same name
exists in a different scope, that variable will not be changed.
2. If a variable is not explicitly set to be either universal, global
or local, but has been previously defined, the previous variable
scope is used.
3. If a variable is not explicitly set to be either universal, global
or local and has never before been defined, the variable will be
local to the currently executing functions. If no function is
executing, the variable will be global.
The exporting rules when creating or updating a variable are identical
to the scoping rules for variables:
1. If a variable is explicitly set to either be exported or not
exported, that setting will be honored.
2. If a variable is not explicitly set to be exported or not exported,
but has been previously defined, the previous exporting rule for
the variable is kept.
3. If a variable is not explicitly set to be either exported or
unexported and has never before been defined, the variable will not
be exported.
In query mode, the scope to be examined can be specified.
In erase mode, if variable indices are specified, only the specified
slices of the array variable will be erased. When erasing an entire
variable (i.e. no slicing), the scope of the variable to be erased can
be specified. That way, a global variable can be erased even if a local
variable with the same name exists. Scope can not be specified when
erasing a slice of an array. The innermost scope is always used.
The set command requires all switch arguments to come before any non-
switch arguments. For example, set flags -l will have the effect of
setting the value of the variable flags to '-l', not making the
variable local.
In assignment mode, set exits with an exit status of zero it the
variable assignments where sucessfully performed, with a non-zero exit
status otherwise. In query mode, the exit status is the number of
variables that where not found. In erase mode, set exits with a zero
exit status in case of success, with a non-zero exit status if the
commandline was invalid, if the variable was write-protected or if the
variable did not exist.
Example
set -xg will print all global, exported variables.
set foo hi sets the value of the variable foo to be hi.
set -e smurf removes the variable smurf.
set PATH[4] ~/bin changes the fourth element of the PATH array to ~/bin
Version 1.23.1 8 Mar 2009 set(1)
fish 1.23.1 - Generated Sun Mar 8 14:17:45 CDT 2009