The export builtin command¶

Synopsis¶

export [-fn] [NAME[=VALUE] ...]
export -p

Description¶

The export builtin command is used to mark variables or functions referenced by NAME for automatic export to the environment. If NAME is a shell variable, a value VALUE can be assigned before exporting it.

Options¶

Option Description

-f refer to shell functions -n remove the export property from any referenced NAME -p print all exported variables, with -f, print all exported functions - all in a format re-usable as input

An argument of -- disables further option processing.

Return status¶

Status Reason

0 no error !=0 invalid option !=0 a given NAME is invalid

Examples¶

Set the display to use when launching a GUI application (useful during SSH sessions):

export DISPLAY=":0"

Set your default text editor (e.g. SublimeText):

export EDITOR=subl

Portability considerations¶

in POSIX®, only the -p option is specified
in POSIX®, only variables (with value assignment) are to be exported, not shell functions