NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | CONFORMING TO | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON
PUTENV(3) Linux Programmer's Manual PUTENV(3)
putenv - change or add an environment variable
#include <stdlib.h>
int putenv(char *string);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
putenv(): _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE
The putenv() function adds or changes the value of environment variables. The
argument string is of the form name=value. If name does not already exist in
the environment, then string is added to the environment. If name does exist,
then the value of name in the environment is changed to value. The string
pointed to by string becomes part of the environment, so altering the string
changes the environment.
The putenv() function returns zero on success, or non-zero if an error occurs.
ENOMEM Insufficient space to allocate new environment.
SVr4, POSIX.1-2001, 4.3BSD.
The putenv() function is not required to be reentrant, and the one in libc4,
libc5 and glibc 2.0 is not, but the glibc 2.1 version is.
Description for libc4, libc5, glibc: If the argument string is of the form
name, and does not contain an '=' character, then the variable name is removed
from the environment. If putenv() has to allocate a new array environ, and
the previous array was also allocated by putenv(), then it will be freed. In
no case will the old storage associated to the environment variable itself be
freed.
The libc4 and libc5 and glibc 2.1.2 versions conform to SUSv2: the pointer
string given to putenv() is used. In particular, this string becomes part of
the environment; changing it later will change the environment. (Thus, it is
an error is to call putenv() with an automatic variable as the argument, then
return from the calling function while string is still part of the
environment.) However, glibc 2.0-2.1.1 differs: a copy of the string is used.
On the one hand this causes a memory leak, and on the other hand it violates
SUSv2. This has been fixed in glibc 2.1.2.
The 4.4BSD version, like glibc 2.0, uses a copy.
SUSv2 removes the const from the prototype, and so does glibc 2.1.3.
clearenv(3), getenv(3), setenv(3), unsetenv(3), environ(7)
This page is part of release 3.23 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found
at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
GNU 2007-07-26 PUTENV(3)