How to get an environment variable in Bash?

How to Get an Environment Variable in Bash

Environment variables store configuration settings for your shell and applications.

The Command

echo $VARIABLE_NAME

Bash in 2026

In 2026, environment variables are the primary way to configure Docker containers and Cloud Functions. Instead of editing .bashrc, many developers now use .env files with tools like dotenv to manage secrets and configuration across different environments (development, staging, production). For systemd services, environment variables are now set in the Environment= directive in the service file.