Equal-Sign Characters in Environment Variables (35937)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 2.11
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.2
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.21
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3a
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q35937 SUMMARY
When using environment variables in MS-DOS, you cannot include an
equal sign as a character data/value section in an environment
variable. The MS-DOS environment parser uses the equal sign as the
delimiter between the name and the value of an environment variable.
Thus, trying to set the environment variable "EXRC" to "TABS=4" as
follows
would result in a syntax error. In OS/2, it is possible to set this
environment variable by using the caret character (^) to "escape" the
equal sign. Thus, under OS/2, it is possible to set the environment
variable "EXRC" as follows:
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 5/12/2003 |
|---|
| Keywords: | KB35937 |
|---|
|