RE: [Mingw-msys] How did env's PATH get changed?

[Keith M. <kei...@to...>]

Dave Hylands wrote:
>> So -- at least on my machine -- Microsoft Windows does not
>> have any built-in env command.  Is something messed up on my
>> machine, or does Microsoft Windows really not have an "env "
>> command?
>
> This is getting off-topic now since we're no longer talking about msys.

Agreed, but just for the record, IIRC Microsoft *never* provided an
env command in *any* version of Windows, nor in MS-DOS.

> From the cmd.exe shell (normal command line shell for Windows
> NT/2000/XP), the "set" command with no arguments shows the environment.

As indeed it will with any Bourne compatible UNIX/Linux shell.  In *nix
however, there is a distinction between local and exported environments.
set with no arguments shows the *local* environment, env shows the
*exported* environment, and this distinction is true of MSYS too.
(BTW, another way to see the exported environment is to use the export
command without arguments, but the display format is somewhat different).

Neither Windows nor MS-DOS have any concept of a local environment,
(everything is exported, whether you like it or not), so using set
without arguments in a cmd.exe shell, is entirely analogous to using
env in an MSYS shell.

Best regards,
Keith.