UNIX, get environment variable

unix shell environment echo
Mike picture Mike · Mar 19, 2010 · Viewed 93.5k times · Source

I have a ridiculous question due to a ridiculous problem.

Normally if I want to get the contents of an environment variable in UNIX shell, I can do

echo ${VAR}

Let's assume, due to my ridiculous situation, that this isn't possible.

How do I get the contents of an environment variable to stdout, without someone who is looking at the command itself (not the output), see the value of the environment variable.

I can picture the solution being something like echo env(NAME_OF_VAR) although I can't seem to find it. The solution has to work in sh.

PS I can't write a script for this, it must be a built in unix command (i know, ridiculous problem)

Thanks (and sorry for the absurdity)

Answer

user184968 picture user184968 · Mar 19, 2010

You can do:

printenv VARIABLE_NAME

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