Windows and Linux variable equivalents

Using Windows or Linux comes with its own knowledge. Sometimes is really difficult to switch working to the other OS. That's why I've made my walk-through to ease this transition. If you find something wrong or incomplete please comment below and I'll fix it.

The table below and the previous one: Windows cmd vs Linux shell commands are part of my Lab Diary, which I intend to post on pages on these blog and site. It contains more than 5000 articles, code snippets, best practices and my experience in IT world.

Windows - Linux equivalent variables table

Variable/Command	Windows	Example	Linux	Example2	Explanation
TEMP	%TEMP%	C:\WINDOWS\Temp	$TMPDIR $TMP $TEMP	/tmp /var/tmp	What directory is used as tempory folder for program data.
PATH	%PATH%	C:\Windows\	$PATH		All directories that the system will check when looking for commands.
User home	%USERPROFILE%	C:\Users\user	$HOME	/home/user	The current user's home directory.
USER	%USERNAME%		$USER	user	The current logged in user.
User id	wmic useraccount get name,sid	S-1-5-21…	$UID	1	The UID of user.
Current folder	CD	C:\Users\user	$PWD	/home/user	The current working folder.
Application data	%APPDATA%	C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming		/home/user/.<application>/profiles/	Application data folder
Domain	%USERDOMAIN%	domain	HOSTNAME	domain	The hostname of the computer.
Operating System	%OS%	Windows_NT	uname -a	Linux localhost 3.11.	The OS version

Languages get environmental variables table

Language	What	Code	result
python	Get variable	import os print os.environ['HOME']	C:\Users\user' - windows '/home/user' - linux
python	Get all	import os print os.environ	{'TMP': 'C:\\Users\..'
python	Get all formatted	import os for var in os.environ: print('Var: ', var, 'Value: ', os.getenv(var))	('Var: ', 'OS', 'Value: ', 'Windows_NT') ('Var: ', 'PUBLIC', 'Value: ', 'C:\\Users\\Public')
python	Set variable	import os os.environ['VAR'] = str(value) os.environ['VAR'] = value
java	Get variable	System.getenv("HOME");	C:\Users\user - windows /home/user - linux
java	Get all	System.getenv();	{TEMP="C:\Users..}
java	Get all formatted	Map<String, String> var = System.getenv(); for (String varName : var.keySet()) { System.out.format("%s=%s%n", varName, var.get(varName)); }
node.js	Get variable	process.env.HOME;
node.js	Set variable	process.env.VAR = "value";
C#	Get variable	System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable ("HOME")
C#	Set variable	System.Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("VAR", "val")
C	Get variable	value = getenv ("HOME");
C	Set variable	setenv ("VAR", "value", 0);

Python get set env variables

import os
print os.environ['HOME']
print os.environ
for var in os.environ:
    print('Var: ', var, 'Value: ', os.getenv(var))
os.environ['VAR'] = str(value)
os.environ['VAR'] = value

Java get set env variables

System.getenv("HOME");
System.getenv();
Map<String, String> var = System.getenv();
for (String varName : var.keySet()) {
    System.out.format(""%s=%s%n"", varName, var.get(varName));
}

Node.JS get set env variables

process.env.HOME;
process.env.VAR = "value";

C# get set env variables

System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable ("HOME")
System.Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("VAR", "val")

C get set env variables

value = getenv ("HOME");
setenv ("VAR", "value", 0);