List all environment variables from the command line

Question

Is it possible to list all environment variables from a Windows' command prompt?

Something equivalent to PowerShell's gci env: (or ls env: or dir env:).

For a description of each, see ss64.com/nt/syntax-variables.html — Samuel Harmer
– Samuel Harmer, Commented Jun 14, 2018 at 11:14

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 08:41:10Z

1674

Just do:

SET

You can also do SET prefix to see all variables with names starting with prefix.

For example, if you want to read only derbydb from the environment variables, do the following:

set derby

...and you will get the following:

DERBY_HOME=c:\Users\amro-a\Desktop\db-derby-10.10.1.1-bin\db-derby-10.10.1.1-bin

edited Sep 26, 2019 at 8:41

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 16, 2011 at 15:24

Jon

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8 Comments

CMCDragonkai Over a year ago

This prompts me for a name?

Jon Over a year ago

@KevinMeredith: All commands in the Windows shell are case insensitive.

JonnyRaa Over a year ago

@CMCDragonkai are you using powershell? It appears that it has hikacked set with one of its command-lets. This is one of its less useful features! I asked a question about disabling this here

arrowd Over a year ago

This doesn't seem to work with cmd /c. /e:on flag also doesn't help.

John Lord Over a year ago

This is not guaranteed to work. This requires command extensions to be enabled. They are enabled by default on newer windows, but not older ones, and they can be turned off.

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 08:45:29Z

227

Jon has the right answer, but to elaborate a little more with some syntactic sugar..

SET | more

enables you to see the variables one page at a time, rather than the whole lot, or

SET > output.txt

sends the output to a file output.txt which you can open in Notepad or whatever...

edited Sep 26, 2019 at 8:45

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 10, 2013 at 15:26

Fetchez la vache

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1 Comment

John Lord Over a year ago

it's actually built in to some functions as well. Dir for example will page with a /p.

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 08:53:29Z

190

To list all environment variables in PowerShell:

Get-ChildItem Env:

Or as suggested by user797717 to avoid output truncation:

Get-ChildItem Env: | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize

Source: Creating and Modifying Environment Variables (Windows PowerShell Tip of the Week)

edited Sep 26, 2019 at 8:53

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 17, 2015 at 8:03

Giorgi Gviani

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5 Comments

ROMANIA_engineer Over a year ago

Even if I don't use PowerShell because it doesn't work for every cmd command, this is the only solution for a pretty printing (on 2 columns) without big efforts. To achieve the same behavior in cmd, you need something like this for /f "tokens=1,2 delims==" ... which becomes very complicated ...

user797717 Over a year ago

To avoid output being truncated, I would use the following: Get-ChildItem Env: | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize

mati kepa Over a year ago

gci env: instead Get-ChildItem Env:, easier to remember

baddy Over a year ago

dir env: I find even easier to remember

Nathan Griffiths Apr 3 at 22:37

Question specifically asks for a solution using command prompt, not powershell

Grant Thomas · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-10 16:32:00Z

94

Simply run set from cmd.

Displays, sets, or removes environment variables. Used without parameters, set displays the current environment settings.

edited Jul 10, 2013 at 16:32

answered Mar 16, 2011 at 15:27

Grant Thomas

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3 Comments

Jay Killeen Over a year ago

Doesn't seem to work these days (in 2021) ` $ set $ cmdlet Set-Variable at command pipeline position 1 $ Supply values for the following parameters: $ Name[0]: $ Set-Variable: Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Name' because it is an empty array. `

Alistair Knock Over a year ago

set is run in cmd, not Powershell @JayKilleen

do loop Over a year ago

So VERY very true @Grant! +1 But I think the MORE command option was to paginate. :D @JayKilleen and any other people: ---> Command Prompt CMD Answer: set | more (or in shortcut: set | more & pause) ---> PowerShell PS Answer: gci env: | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize -OR- Get-ChildItem Env: | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize

Hrishikesh Kadam · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-16 17:24:30Z

28

Non expanded variables -

User variables -

reg query HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment

System variables -

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"

Expanded variables -

In CMD -

SET

In Powershell -

Source - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/powertip-use-windows-powershell-to-display-all-environment-variables/

dir env:

edited Jul 16, 2021 at 17:24

answered Jul 16, 2021 at 17:13

Hrishikesh Kadam

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3 Comments

Nick Over a year ago

set by itself doesn't work with Github Actions, but the reg query does!

do loop Over a year ago

Sorry @HrishikeshKadam - it doesn't work. Command: PS C:\Users\User> dir env Error Message:

dir : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\User\env' because it does not exist... FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

Kevin SHI Nov 26, 2024 at 5:21

@doloop The colon after "env" is required, so dir env: works, but not dir env.

Boyce Field · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-13 06:57:02Z

14

You can use SET in cmd

To show the current variable, just SET is enough

To show certain variable such as 'PATH', use SET PATH.

For help, type set /?.

answered Jan 13, 2015 at 6:57

Boyce Field

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1 Comment

Peter Mortensen Over a year ago

How is this different from existing answers?

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 08:57:29Z

11

Don't lose time. Search for it in the registry:

reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"

returns less than the SET command.

edited Sep 26, 2019 at 8:57

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 6, 2017 at 13:00

Paweł Piwowar

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2 Comments

mpag Over a year ago

although that might be true, one difference is that the registry query returns unexpanded REG_EXPAND_SZ keys. For example reg query "HKCU\Environment" shows me that my %TEMP% variable depends on the value of %USERPROFILE%, so if that value changes, so would the value for %TEMP%. In contrast, SET just returns "C:\Users\mpag\AppData\Local\Temp"

Alexandre Huat Over a year ago

Why do you say "don’t lose time"? Isn’t writing "set" in the command prompt faster than "reg query ..."?

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-26 08:55:43Z

5

If you want to see the environment variable you just set, you need to open a new command window.

Variables set with setx variables are available in future command windows only, not in the current command window. (Setx, Examples)

edited Sep 26, 2019 at 8:55

Peter Mortensen

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answered Dec 5, 2016 at 4:55

captain puget

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List all environment variables from the command line

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