Set an environment variable in git bash

Question

When I punch from the windows gitbash command line:

set $HOME = c 

and do :

echo $HOME 

It does not set it to c? How can I change/set the value of an environment variable?

Answer 1

A normal variable is set by simply assigning it a value; note that no whitespace is allowed around the =:

HOME=c 

An environment variable is a regular variable that has been marked for export to the environment.

export HOME HOME=c 

You can combine the assignment with the export statement.

export HOME=c 

Answer 2

If you want to set environment variables permanently in Git-Bash, you have two options:

1. Set a regular Windows environment variable. Git-bash gets all existing Windows environment variables at startup.

2. Set up env variables in .bash_profile file.

.bash_profile is by default located in a user home folder, like C:\users\userName\git-home\.bash_profile. You can change the path to the bash home folder by setting HOME Windows environment variable.

.bash_profile file uses the regular Bash syntax and commands

# Export a variable in .bash_profile export DIR=c:\dir # Nix path style works too export DIR=/c/dir  # And don't forget to add quotes if a variable contains whitespaces export ANOTHER_DIR="c:\some dir" 

Read more information about Bash configurations files.