Which of the following is the best way to list all defined shell variables?

Question

Options

• Aenv
• Bset
• Cenv -a
• Decho $ENV

• A
  4% (1)
• B
  84% (21)
• C
  8% (2)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

set lists all shell variables - both environment variables and shell-local variables (including functions) - making it the most complete option for seeing everything defined in the current shell session.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. env - shows only exported environment variables, missing shell-local variables that haven't been exported with export.
• C. env -a - not a standard/portable flag; env doesn't accept -a in most implementations, and even where it does it still only covers environment variables.
• D. echo $ENV - prints the value of a single variable named ENV (typically the path to the shell's config file), not a list of variables.

Memory tip: Think "Set = Sees everything" - set is the most comprehensive command because it operates at the shell level, while env only sees what's been promoted to the environment.

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