Variables

Variables in the Shell

When a variable is first used you assign it a value with an equals sign like this:

myvariable="Hello"

When you want to access the variable, put a dollar sign in front of it:

echo $myvariable
Hello

There are also built-in variables like:

  • $HOME
  • $PATH
  • $USER or $USERNAME
  • $OSTYPE
  • $LINES
  • $SHELL
  • $COLUMNS

For example, to find your home directory, you can type echo $HOME, or use it in a script. The following line will download the source code from the URL http://www.example.com/ and save it to the Desktop of the current user:

lynx -source "http://www.example.com/" > $HOME/Desktop/example.html
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