On Sat, Jan 04, 2014 at 03:51:02PM +0000, Dave Mitchell wrote: > On Sat, Jan 04, 2014 at 04:08:17PM +0100, Suvayu Ali wrote: > > On Sat, Jan 04, 2014 at 10:37:48PM +1030, Tim wrote: > > > Frank Murphy: > > > > > 1: export TMPDIR=/var/tmp > > > > > 2: export TMPDIR=$TMPDIR:/var/tmp > > > > > > Suvayu Ali: > > > > Depends on what you want to do. If you want to overwrite the variable, > > > > use (1). If you want to add (prepend) to the variable, use (2). > > > > > > Wouldn't that actually be an append - add onto the end of the existing > > > variables, as opposed to insert before the existing variables (prepend). > > > > This would be append: > > > > 3: export TMPDIR=/var/tmp:$TMPDIR > > > > This is how I understand it; if a matching path is found, it is > > considered for the task at hand. So prepend (front) would mean "I want > > this to be considered before everything else", whereas append (back) > > would mean "I want this to be considered when everything else fails". > > > > The easiest example to see it in action is the PATH variable. > > > > Does that make sense? > > No. > > TMPDIR=/tmp > .. > export TMPDIR=/var/tmp:$TMPDIR > > TMPDIR now contains /var/tmp:/tmp and the new path (/var/tmp) is earlier > in the search than the existing value(s) and will be used in preference to > /tmp. So /var/tmp has been *pre*pended to the search path by any > definition I can think of. Oops! Not sure where my mind is today; you are right. I was thinking the *new* value is in TMPDIR for some inexplicable reason! -- Suvayu Open source is the future. It sets us free. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
