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1---
2title: Special Variables (Oils Reference)
3all_docs_url: ..
4body_css_class: width40
5default_highlighter: oils-sh
6preserve_anchor_case: yes
7---
8
9<div class="doc-ref-header">
10
11[Oils Reference](index.html) &mdash;
12Chapter **Special Variables**
13
14</div>
15
16This chapter describes special variables for OSH and YSH.
17
18<span class="in-progress">(in progress)</span>
19
20<div id="dense-toc">
21</div>
22
23## YSH Vars
24
25### ARGV
26
27Replacement for `"$@"`
28
29### ENV
30
31TODO
32
33### _this_dir
34
35The directory the current script resides in. This knows about 3 situations:
36
37- The location of `oshrc` in an interactive shell
38- The location of the main script, e.g. in `osh myscript.sh`
39- The location of script loaded with the `source` builtin
40
41It's useful for "relative imports".
42
43## YSH Status
44
45### `_status`
46
47DEPRECATED: Use `_error.code` instead.
48
49### `_error`
50
51A `Dict` that's set by the `try` builtin.
52
53The integer `_error.code` is always present:
54
55 try {
56 ls /tmp
57 }
58 echo "status is $[_error.code]"
59
60Some errors also have a `message` field, like JSON/J8 encoding/decoding errors,
61and user errors from the [error][] builtin.
62
63 try {
64 echo $[toJson( /d+/ )] # invalid Eggex type
65 }
66 echo "failed: $[_error.message]" # => failed: Can't serialize ...
67
68[error]: chap-builtin-cmd.html#error
69
70
71### `_pipeline_status`
72
73After a pipeline of processes is executed, this array contains the exit code of
74each process.
75
76Each exit code is an [Int](chap-type-method.html#Int). Compare with
77[`PIPESTATUS`](#PIPESTATUS).
78
79### `_process_sub_status`
80
81The exit status of all the process subs in the last command.
82
83## YSH Tracing
84
85### SHX_indent
86
87### SHX_punct
88
89### SHX_pid_str
90
91## YSH Read
92
93### _reply
94
95YSH `read` sets this variable:
96
97 read --all < myfile
98 echo $_reply
99
100## Oils VM
101
102### `OILS_VERSION`
103
104The version of Oils that's being run, e.g. `0.23.0`.
105
106<!-- TODO: specify comparison algorithm. -->
107
108### `LIB_OSH`
109
110The string `///osh`, which you can use with the [source][] builtin.
111
112 source $LIB_OSH/two.sh
113
114[source]: chap-builtin-cmd.html#source
115
116### `LIB_YSH`
117
118The string `///ysh`, which you can use with the [source][] builtin.
119
120 source $LIB_YSH/yblocks.ysh
121
122[source]: chap-builtin-cmd.html#source
123
124### `OILS_GC_THRESHOLD`
125
126At a GC point, if there are more than this number of live objects, collect
127garbage.
128
129### `OILS_GC_ON_EXIT`
130
131Set `OILS_GC_ON_EXIT=1` to explicitly collect and `free()` before the process
132exits. By default, we let the OS clean up.
133
134Useful for ASAN testing.
135
136### `OILS_GC_STATS`
137
138When the shell process exists, print GC stats to stderr.
139
140### `OILS_GC_STATS_FD`
141
142When the shell process exists, print GC stats to this file descriptor.
143
144## Shell Vars
145
146### IFS
147
148Used for word splitting. And the builtin `shSplit()` function.
149
150### LANG
151
152TODO: bash compat
153
154### GLOBIGNORE
155
156TODO: bash compat
157
158## Shell Options
159
160### SHELLOPTS
161
162bash compat: serialized options for the `set` builtin.
163
164### BASHOPTS
165
166bash compat: serialized options for the `shopt` builtin.
167
168## Other Env
169
170### HOME
171
172$HOME is used for:
173
1741. ~ expansion
1752. ~ abbreviation in the UI (the dirs builtin, \W in $PS1).
176
177Note: The shell doesn't set $HOME. According to POSIX, the program that
178invokes the login shell sets it based on /etc/passwd.
179
180### PATH
181
182A colon-separated string that's used to find executables to run.
183
184
185## POSIX Special
186
187## Other Special
188
189### BASH_REMATCH
190
191Result of regex evaluation `[[ $x =~ $pat ]]`.
192
193### PIPESTATUS
194
195After a pipeline of processes is executed, this array contains the exit code of
196each process.
197
198Each exit code is a [Str](chap-type-method.html#Str). Compare with
199[`_pipeline_status`](#_pipeline_status).
200
201## Platform
202
203### HOSTNAME
204
205The name of the "host" or machine that Oils is running on, determined by
206`gethostname()`.
207
208### OSTYPE
209
210The operating system that Oils is running on, determined by `uname()`.
211
212Examples: `linux darwin ...`
213
214## Call Stack
215
216### BASH_SOURCE
217
218### FUNCNAME
219
220### BASH_LINENO
221
222## Tracing
223
224### LINENO
225
226## Process State
227
228### BASHPID
229
230TODO
231
232### PPID
233
234TODO
235
236### UID
237
238### EUID
239
240## Process Stack
241
242## Shell State
243
244## Completion
245
246### COMP_WORDS
247
248An array of words, split by : and = for compatibility with bash. New
249completion scripts should use COMP_ARGV instead.
250
251### COMP_CWORD
252
253Discouraged; for compatibility with bash.
254
255### COMP_LINE
256
257Discouraged; for compatibility with bash.
258
259### COMP_POINT
260
261Discouraged; for compatibility with bash.
262
263### COMP_WORDBREAKS
264
265Discouraged; for compatibility with bash.
266
267### COMPREPLY
268
269User-defined completion functions should Fill this array with candidates. It
270is cleared on every completion request.
271
272### COMP_ARGV
273
274An array of partial command arguments to complete. Preferred over COMP_WORDS.
275The compadjust builtin uses this variable.
276
277(An OSH extension to bash.)
278
279## History
280
281### HISTFILE
282
283Override the default OSH history location.
284
285### YSH_HISTFILE
286
287Override the default YSH history location.
288
289## cd
290
291### PWD
292
293### OLDPWD
294
295### CDPATH
296
297## getopts
298
299### OPTIND
300
301### OPTARG
302
303### OPTERR
304
305## read
306
307### REPLY
308
309OSH read sets this:
310
311 read < myfile
312
313## Functions
314
315### RANDOM
316
317bash compat
318
319### SECONDS
320
321bash compat
322