Set an environment variable in git bash

Solution 1:

A normal variable is set by simply assigning it a value; note that no whitespace is allowed around the =:

HOME=c

An environment variable is a regular variable that has been marked for export to the environment.

export HOME
HOME=c

You can combine the assignment with the export statement.

export HOME=c

Solution 2:

If you want to set environment variables permanently in Git-Bash, you have two options:

1. Set a regular Windows environment variable. Git-bash gets all existing Windows environment variables at startup.

2. Set up env variables in .bash_profile file.

.bash_profile is by default located in a user home folder, like C:\users\userName\git-home\.bash_profile. You can change the path to the bash home folder by setting HOME Windows environment variable.

.bash_profile file uses the regular Bash syntax and commands

# Export a variable in .bash_profile
export DIR=c:\dir
# Nix path style works too
export DIR=/c/dir

# And don't forget to add quotes if a variable contains whitespaces
export ANOTHER_DIR="c:\some dir"

Read more information about Bash configurations files.

Solution 3:

Creating a .bashrc file in your home directory also works. That way you don't have to copy your .bash_profile every time you install a new version of git bash.