How do you view environment variables in a Linux shell?

Viewing environment variables in a Linux shell can effectively be done with the env or printenv commands. These commands are specifically designed to display a list of all environment variables along with their current values.

When you enter the env command, it prints all environment variables in your current session in a straightforward format, which allows you to see the variable names paired with their corresponding values. Similarly, the printenv command serves the same purpose, providing a convenient way to access the environment variables.

While other commands like echo and set can display variable values, they have different primary functions. For instance, echo is commonly used to print text to the terminal; it can display the value of a specific environment variable when used in combination with the variable name, but it does not list all environment variables automatically. The set command, on the other hand, displays shell variables and functions, which may include environment variables, but it's more general and can output a lot of data that might not be relevant to just viewing environment variables.

Therefore, using the env or printenv commands is the most precise and effective method for viewing environment variables in a Linux shell.