Customizing the user environment

SET

Use SET to set a DOS or OS/2 environment variable to a specified value.

For OS/2 workstations, SET commands affect the environment only while the login script is running; the settings disappear when LOGIN terminates.

SET has the following command format:

[TEMP] SET name="value"

Replace name with an environment parameter that identifies the environment you want to change.

Replace value with identifier variable substitutions. Values must be enclosed in quotation marks.

To change the environment for the login script, but not for the workstation after the login script has finished executing, use the optional keyword TEMP.

NOTE: Variables set in the login script for an OS/2 workstation affect the environment only while the login script is running. Therefore, the TEMP option does not work with OS/2 workstations.

Use the SET login script command the same way you use the DOS command SET. However, when you use SET in a login script, you must enter quotation marks (`` '') around values.

NOTE: If a variable is set to a path that ends in a \'', these two characters are interpreted as an embedded quotation mark preceded by an escape character. To avoid this problem, use two backslashes before the ending double quotation marks (\\").

The SET commands do not have to be included in login scripts.

For example, you may decide that it is easier to put some SET commands in the workstation's AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Where you use SET commands depends upon your individual needs.

For information about values you can set, see the SET command in your DOS or OS/2 documentation.

NOTE: This command does not work in a login script if the DOS workstation's environment is too small. In this case, you should set the environment size in the CONFIG.SYS file.

See the SHELL command in your DOS manual for more information about the environment size. (OS/2 workstations do not have this limitation.)

After you use the SET command to set a value for an environment variable, you can use that variable in other login script commands.

To include an environment variable as an identifier variable in a command, enclose the name of the variable in angle brackets, for example, <emailuser>.

For example:

You can use SET to make a prompt display the current directory path, such as F:\HOME\MARY>, rather than just the drive letter. To do this, add the following line to the login script:
```
SET PROMPT="$P$G"
```
``$P'' lists the current directory path; ``$G'' displays a ``>'' (greater than) character. See your DOS or OS/2 manual for more information.
To set a path for a program called DAILY, which is in the REPORTS subdirectory beneath drive G:, you would add the following line:
```
SET PATH="G:\REPORTS\DAILY"
```
This sets the variable PATH to G:\REPORTS\DAILY.
NOTE: Setting the variable PATH in the login script removes any search drives previously assigned. Use SET PATH only before you map search drives. SET PATH also overwrites any paths set in the user's AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
To display this path, you can include PATH as an identifier variable in a WRITE command by enclosing the variable (not the value) in angle brackets. For example, the following line displays ``My path is G:\REPORTS\DAILY''.
```
WRITE "My path is "%<path>
```
To include an environment variable in a MAP command, precede the variable with a percent sign (%).
For example, you could include the following lines in a login script to set and map a drive to the variable NWS:
```
SET NWS="C:\XYZ"
MAP S16:=%<NWS>
```

For more information about using environment variables as identifier variables in other login script commands, see ``Identifier variables''.