Environment and Registry Variables

Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference


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Environment and Registry Variables

Each operating system and shell has its own syntax for setting environment variables. The following table shows how to set the P4CLIENT environment variable in each OS and shell:


OS or Shell	Environment Variable Example
UNIX: `ksh`, `sh`, `bash`	`P4CLIENT=value ; export P4CLIENT`
UNIX: `csh`	`setenv P4CLIENT value`
VMS	`def/j P4CLIENT "value"`
Mac MPW	`set -e P4CLIENT value`
Windows	`p4 set P4CLIENT=value` Windows administrators running Perforce as a service can set variables for use by a specific service with `p4 set -S` `svcname` `var=value`, or set variables for all users on the local machine with `p4 set -s` `var=value`. (See the `p4 set` chapter for more details on setting Perforce's registry variables in Windows).

Perforce's environment variables can be loosely grouped into the following four categories:

Crucial: The variable almost certainly needs to be set on the client; the default values are rarely sufficient. Understanding these variables is crucial for users and administrators alike.
Useful: Setting this variable can provide additional functionality to the user, but is not required for most Perforce operations.
Esoteric: The default value of this variable is normally sufficient; it rarely needs to be changed.

Server: The variable is set by the Perforce system administrator on the machine running the Perforce server. Some of these variables are used by Perforce clients as well; in these cases, the variable is categorized twice.


Crucial Variables	Useful Variables	Esoteric Variables	Server Variables
`P4CLIENT`	`P4CONFIG`	`P4PAGER`	`P4JOURNAL`
`P4PORT`	`P4DIFF`	`PWD`	`P4LOG`
`P4PASSWD`	`P4EDITOR`	`TMP, TEMP`	`P4PORT`
`P4USER`	`P4MERGE`	`P4LANGUAGE`	`P4ROOT`
	`P4CHARSET`		`P4DEBUG`

Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference


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