Get-EnvironmentVariable

SYNOPSIS

Retrieves the value of an environment variable.

SYNTAX

Get-EnvironmentVariable [[-Name] <String>] [[-Target] <EnvironmentVariableTarget>] [-All]
 [<CommonParameters>]

DESCRIPTION

The Get-EnvironmentVariable function retrieves the value of the specified environment variable or displays all environment variables.

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLE 1

Get-EnvironmentVariable -Name "PATH"
Retrieves the value of the "PATH" environment variable.

PARAMETERS

-Name

The name of the environment variable to retrieve.

Type: String
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:

Required: False
Position: 1
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

-Target

The target of the environment variable to retrieve. Defaults to User. (Process, User, or Machine)

Type: EnvironmentVariableTarget
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Accepted values: Process, User, Machine

Required: False
Position: 2
Default value: User
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

-All

Switch to show environment variables in all target scopes.

Type: SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:

Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

CommonParameters

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutBuffer, -OutVariable, -PipelineVariable, -Verbose, -WarningAction, -WarningVariable, and -ProgressAction. For more information, see about_CommonParameters (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).

INPUTS

OUTPUTS

System.String

NOTES

Variable names are case-sensitive on Linux and macOS, but not on Windows.

Why is 'Target' used by .NET instead of the familiar 'Scope' parameter name? @IISResetMe (Mathias R. Jessen) explains: "Scope" would imply some sort of integrated hierarchy of env variables - that's not really the case. Target=Process translates to kernel32!GetEnvironmentVariable (which then in turn reads the PEB from the calling process), whereas Target={User,Machine} causes a registry lookup against environment data in either HKCU or HKLM.

The relevant sources for the User and Machine targets are in the registry at: - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment

See more at \<https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_environment_variables>.

RELATED LINKS