How do I access this environment variable in the windows git bash shell

Question

I am trying to configure my windows portable git bash shell. When I execute `env` I get: ``` ANT_HOME=C:\Program Files\WinAnt PORTABLEAPPS.COMVIDEOS:FORWARDSLASH=H:/Documents/Videos VBOX_INSTALL_PATH=C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\ PORTABLEAPPS.COMLOCALEWINNAME=LANG_ENGLISH PAL:LASTPORTABLEAPPSBASEDIR:DOUBLEBACKSLASH=H: PAL:DRIVELETTER=H **** this is the variable I am after ****** PAL:APPDIR=H:\PortableApps\GitPortable\App TEMP=/tmp ``` The variable I am trying to reference is `PAL:DRIVELETTER=H`. I want to use this set my path in my `.bash_profile` script. This is all on a USB stick and the drive letter will of course change from time to time. I have tried echoing: ``` $PAL:DRIVELETTER ${PAL:DRIVELETTER} ``` and numerous other things.

Accepted Answer

The bash "Definitions" does mention explicitly:

```
name
```

A word consisting solely of letters, numbers, and underscores, and beginning with a letter or underscore. Names are used as shell variable and function names. Also referred to as an identifier.

So your variable name PAL:DRIVELETTER is actually invalid. You need to extract it from the '`env`' output, as proposed in this answer:

```
pal_driveletter=$(env |grep "^PAL:DRIVELETTER=" | cut -d= -f2-)
```

How do I access this environment variable in the windows git bash shell

Solution

Problem