Class: ENV

Creates, updates, or deletes the named environment variable, returning the value. Both name and value may be instances of ::String. See Valid Names and Values.

• If the named environment variable does not exist:

  • If value is nil, does nothing.

    ENV.clear
    ENV['foo'] = nil # => nil
    ENV.include?('foo') # => false
    ENV.store('bar', nil) # => nil
    ENV.include?('bar') # => false

  • If value is not nil, creates the environment variable with name and value:

    # Create 'foo' using ENV.[]=.
    ENV['foo'] = '0' # => '0'
    ENV['foo'] # => '0'
    # Create 'bar' using ENV.store.
    ENV.store('bar', '1') # => '1'
    ENV['bar'] # => '1'

• If the named environment variable exists:

  • If value is not nil, updates the environment variable with value value:

    # Update 'foo' using ENV.[]=.
    ENV['foo'] = '2' # => '2'
    ENV['foo'] # => '2'
    # Update 'bar' using ENV.store.
    ENV.store('bar', '3') # => '3'
    ENV['bar'] # => '3'

  • If value is nil, deletes the environment variable:

    # Delete 'foo' using ENV.[]=.
    ENV['foo'] = nil # => nil
    ENV.include?('foo') # => false
    # Delete 'bar' using ENV.store.
    ENV.store('bar', nil) # => nil
    ENV.include?('bar') # => false

Raises an exception if name or value is invalid. See Invalid Names and Values.

Returns a 2-element ::Array containing the name and value of the environment variable for name if it exists:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.assoc('foo') # => ['foo', '0']

Returns nil if name is a valid ::String and there is no such environment variable.

Returns nil if name is the empty ::String or is a ::String containing character '='.

Raises an exception if name is a ::String containing the NUL character "\0":

ENV.assoc("\0") # Raises ArgumentError (bad environment variable name: contains null byte)

Raises an exception if name has an encoding that is not ASCII-compatible:

ENV.assoc("\xa1\xa1".force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_16LE))
# Raises ArgumentError (bad environment variable name: ASCII incompatible encoding: UTF-16LE)

Raises an exception if name is not a ::String:

ENV.assoc(Object.new) # TypeError (no implicit conversion of Object into String)

Removes every environment variable; returns ENV:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.size # => 2
ENV.clear # => ENV
ENV.size # => 0

Raises TypeError, because ENV is a wrapper for the process-wide environment variables and a clone is useless. Use #to_h to get a copy of ENV data as a hash.

Deletes the environment variable with name if it exists and returns its value:

ENV['foo'] = '0'
ENV.delete('foo') # => '0'

If a block is not given and the named environment variable does not exist, returns nil.

If a block given and the environment variable does not exist, yields name to the block and returns the value of the block:

ENV.delete('foo') { |name| name * 2 } # => "foofoo"

If a block given and the environment variable exists, deletes the environment variable and returns its value (ignoring the block):

ENV['foo'] = '0'
ENV.delete('foo') { |name| raise 'ignored' } # => "0"

Raises an exception if name is invalid. See Invalid Names and Values.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array, deleting each environment variable for which the block returns a truthy value, and returning ENV (regardless of whether any deletions):

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.delete_if { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"foo"=>"0"}
ENV.delete_if { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
e = ENV.delete_if # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}:delete_if!>
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"foo"=>"0"}
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV

Raises TypeError, because ENV is a singleton object. Use #to_h to get a copy of ENV data as a hash.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array:

h = {}
ENV.each_pair { |name, value| h[name] = value } # => ENV
h # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

h = {}
e = ENV.each_pair # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}:each_pair>
e.each { |name, value| h[name] = value } # => ENV
h # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

Yields each environment variable name:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1') # => ENV
names = []
ENV.each_key { |name| names.push(name) } # => ENV
names # => ["bar", "foo"]

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

e = ENV.each_key # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}:each_key>
names = []
e.each { |name| names.push(name) } # => ENV
names # => ["bar", "foo"]

Alias for .each.

Yields each environment variable value:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1') # => ENV
values = []
ENV.each_value { |value| values.push(value) } # => ENV
values # => ["1", "0"]

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

e = ENV.each_value # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}:each_value>
values = []
e.each { |value| values.push(value) } # => ENV
values # => ["1", "0"]

Returns a hash except the given keys from ENV and their values.

ENV                       #=> {"LANG"=>"en_US.UTF-8", "TERM"=>"xterm-256color", "HOME"=>"/Users/rhc"}
ENV.except("TERM","HOME") #=> {"LANG"=>"en_US.UTF-8"}

If name is the name of an environment variable, returns its value:

ENV['foo'] = '0'
ENV.fetch('foo') # => '0'

Otherwise if a block is given (but not a default value), yields name to the block and returns the block’s return value:

ENV.fetch('foo') { |name| :need_not_return_a_string } # => :need_not_return_a_string

Otherwise if a default value is given (but not a block), returns the default value:

ENV.delete('foo')
ENV.fetch('foo', :default_need_not_be_a_string) # => :default_need_not_be_a_string

If the environment variable does not exist and both default and block are given, issues a warning (“warning: block supersedes default value argument”), yields name to the block, and returns the block’s return value:

ENV.fetch('foo', :default) { |name| :block_return } # => :block_return

Raises KeyError if name is valid, but not found, and neither default value nor block is given:

ENV.fetch('foo') # Raises KeyError (key not found: "foo")

Raises an exception if name is invalid. See Invalid Names and Values.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array, returning a ::Hash of the names and values for which the block returns a truthy value:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.select { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
ENV.filter { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

e = ENV.select # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}:select>
e.each { |name, value | name.start_with?('b') } # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
e = ENV.filter # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}:filter>
e.each { |name, value | name.start_with?('b') } # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array, deleting each entry for which the block returns false or nil, and returning ENV if any deletions made, or nil otherwise:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.select! { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
ENV.select! { |name, value| true } # => nil

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.filter! { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
ENV.filter! { |name, value| true } # => nil

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
e = ENV.select! # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}:select!>
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
e.each { |name, value| true } # => nil

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
e = ENV.filter! # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}:filter!>
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}
e.each { |name, value| true } # => nil

Raises an exception:

ENV.freeze # Raises TypeError (cannot freeze ENV)

Alias for .key?.

Alias for .value?.

Alias for .key?.

Returns the contents of the environment as a ::String:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.inspect # => "{\"bar\"=>\"1\", \"foo\"=>\"0\"}"

Returns a ::Hash whose keys are the ENV values, and whose values are the corresponding ENV names:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.invert # => {"1"=>"bar", "0"=>"foo"}

For a duplicate ENV value, overwrites the hash entry:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '0')
ENV.invert # => {"0"=>"foo"}

Note that the order of the ENV processing is OS-dependent, which means that the order of overwriting is also OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array, deleting each environment variable for which the block returns false or nil, and returning ENV:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.keep_if { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
e = ENV.keep_if # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}:keep_if>
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2"}

Returns the name of the first environment variable with value, if it exists:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '0')
ENV.key('0') # => "foo"

The order in which environment variables are examined is OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Returns nil if there is no such value.

Raises an exception if value is invalid:

ENV.key(Object.new) # raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Object into String)

See Invalid Names and Values.

Returns true if there is an environment variable with the given name:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.include?('foo') # => true

Returns false if name is a valid ::String and there is no such environment variable:

ENV.include?('baz') # => false

Returns false if name is the empty ::String or is a ::String containing character '=':

ENV.include?('') # => false
ENV.include?('=') # => false

Raises an exception if name is a ::String containing the NUL character "\0":

ENV.include?("\0") # Raises ArgumentError (bad environment variable name: contains null byte)

Raises an exception if name has an encoding that is not ASCII-compatible:

ENV.include?("\xa1\xa1".force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_16LE))
# Raises ArgumentError (bad environment variable name: ASCII incompatible encoding: UTF-16LE)

Raises an exception if name is not a ::String:

ENV.include?(Object.new) # TypeError (no implicit conversion of Object into String)

Returns all variable names in an ::Array:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.keys # => ['bar', 'foo']

The order of the names is OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Returns the empty ::Array if ENV is empty.

Returns the count of environment variables:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.length # => 2
ENV.size # => 2

Alias for .key?.

Adds to ENV each key/value pair in the given hash; returns ENV:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.merge!('baz' => '2', 'bat' => '3') # => {"bar"=>"1", "bat"=>"3", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}

Deletes the ENV entry for a hash value that is nil:

ENV.merge!('baz' => nil, 'bat' => nil) # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

For an already-existing name, if no block given, overwrites the ENV value:

ENV.merge!('foo' => '4') # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"4"}

For an already-existing name, if block given, yields the name, its ENV value, and its hash value; the block’s return value becomes the new name:

ENV.merge!('foo' => '5') { |name, env_val, hash_val | env_val + hash_val } # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"45"}

Raises an exception if a name or value is invalid (see Invalid Names and Values);

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.merge!('foo' => '6', :bar => '7', 'baz' => '9') # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Symbol into String)
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"6"}
ENV.merge!('foo' => '7', 'bar' => 8, 'baz' => '9') # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Integer into String)
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"7"}

Raises an exception if the block returns an invalid name: (see Invalid Names and Values):

ENV.merge!('bat' => '8', 'foo' => '9') { |name, env_val, hash_val | 10 } # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Integer into String)
ENV # => {"bar"=>"1", "bat"=>"8", "foo"=>"7"}

Note that for the exceptions above, hash pairs preceding an invalid name or value are processed normally; those following are ignored.

Returns a 2-element ::Array containing the name and value of the first found environment variable that has value value, if one exists:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '0')
ENV.rassoc('0') # => ["bar", "0"]

The order in which environment variables are examined is OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Returns nil if there is no such environment variable.

(Provided for compatibility with ::Hash.)

Does not modify ENV; returns nil.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array. Returns a ::Hash whose items are determined by the block. When the block returns a truthy value, the name/value pair is added to the return Hash; otherwise the pair is ignored:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.reject { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => {"foo"=>"0"}

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

e = ENV.reject
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => {"foo"=>"0"}

Similar to .delete_if, but returns nil if no changes were made.

Yields each environment variable name and its value as a 2-element ::Array, deleting each environment variable for which the block returns a truthy value, and returning ENV (if any deletions) or nil (if not):

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.reject! { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"foo"=>"0"}
ENV.reject! { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => nil

Returns an ::Enumerator if no block given:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
e = ENV.reject! # => #<Enumerator: {"bar"=>"1", "baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}:reject!>
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => ENV
ENV # => {"foo"=>"0"}
e.each { |name, value| name.start_with?('b') } # => nil

Replaces the entire content of the environment variables with the name/value pairs in the given hash; returns ENV.

Replaces the content of ENV with the given pairs:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1') # => ENV
ENV.to_hash # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

Raises an exception if a name or value is invalid (see Invalid Names and Values):

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', :bar => '1') # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Symbol into String)
ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => 1) # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Integer into String)
ENV.to_hash # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

Alias for .filter.

Alias for .filter!.

Removes the first environment variable from ENV and returns a 2-element ::Array containing its name and value:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.to_hash # => {'bar' => '1', 'foo' => '0'}
ENV.shift # => ['bar', '1']
ENV.to_hash # => {'foo' => '0'}

Exactly which environment variable is “first” is OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Returns nil if the environment is empty.

Alias for .length.

Returns a ::Hash of the given ENV names and their corresponding values:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2', 'bat' => '3')
ENV.slice('foo', 'baz') # => {"foo"=>"0", "baz"=>"2"}
ENV.slice('baz', 'foo') # => {"baz"=>"2", "foo"=>"0"}

Raises an exception if any of the names is invalid (see Invalid Names and Values):

ENV.slice('foo', 'bar', :bat) # Raises TypeError (no implicit conversion of Symbol into String)

Alias for .[]=.

Returns the contents of ENV as an ::Array of 2-element Arrays, each of which is a name/value pair:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.to_a # => [["bar", "1"], ["foo", "0"]]

With no block, returns a ::Hash containing all name/value pairs from ENV:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.to_h # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

With a block, returns a ::Hash whose items are determined by the block. Each name/value pair in ENV is yielded to the block. The block must return a 2-element ::Array (name/value pair) that is added to the return ::Hash as a key and value:

ENV.to_h { |name, value| [name.to_sym, value.to_i] } # => {bar: 1, foo: 0}

Raises an exception if the block does not return an ::Array:

ENV.to_h { |name, value| name } # Raises TypeError (wrong element type String (expected array))

Raises an exception if the block returns an ::Array of the wrong size:

ENV.to_h { |name, value| [name] } # Raises ArgumentError (element has wrong array length (expected 2, was 1))

Returns a ::Hash containing all name/value pairs from ENV:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.to_hash # => {"bar"=>"1", "foo"=>"0"}

Returns String ‘ENV’:

ENV.to_s # => "ENV"

Alias for .merge!.

Returns true if value is the value for some environment variable name, false otherwise:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.value?('0') # => true
ENV.has_value?('0') # => true
ENV.value?('2') # => false
ENV.has_value?('2') # => false

Returns all environment variable values in an ::Array:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1')
ENV.values # => ['1', '0']

The order of the values is OS-dependent. See About Ordering.

Returns the empty ::Array if ENV is empty.

Returns an ::Array containing the environment variable values associated with the given names:

ENV.replace('foo' => '0', 'bar' => '1', 'baz' => '2')
ENV.values_at('foo', 'baz') # => ["0", "2"]

Returns nil in the ::Array for each name that is not an ENV name:

ENV.values_at('foo', 'bat', 'bar', 'bam') # => ["0", nil, "1", nil]

Returns an empty ::Array if no names given.

Raises an exception if any name is invalid. See Invalid Names and Values.