How to Set Environment Variables in Zsh | Hostvento Knowledge Base

Set a variable temporarily

A variable set this way exists only in the current terminal session.

export MY_VAR="value"

Example with a database address:

export DatabaseURL="mysql://user:password@localhost:3306/mydatabase"

Do not put spaces around =.

Check it:

echo $DatabaseURL

Warning: Do not store real passwords in shell history or startup files that others can read. Keep secrets in a file with chmod 600 or in a secrets manager.

Set a variable permanently

Step 1: Open the .zshrc file

nano ~/.zshrc

(The file name is lower case, .zshrc.)

Step 2: Add the variable

export USER_NAME="Anna"

Save and exit.

Step 3: Apply the change

source ~/.zshrc

Step 4: Check it

echo $USER_NAME

Other Zsh startup files

~/.zshenv is read by every Zsh, even in scripts. Good for PATH and variables that all programs need.
~/.zprofile is read by login shells.
~/.zshrc is read by interactive shells.
/etc/zshenv sets variables for all users.

Useful commands

Show all variables:

printenv

Remove a variable:

unset USER_NAME

Add a folder to the PATH:

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"

Quick recap

export NAME="value" for the session.
Add the line to ~/.zshrc and run source ~/.zshrc to keep it.