Reputation: 33921

What is the correct way to unset a linux environment variable in python?

From the documentation:

If the platform supports the unsetenv() function, you can delete items in this mapping to unset environment variables. unsetenv() will be called automatically when an item is deleted from os.environ, and when one of the pop() or clear() methods is called.

However I want something that will work regardless of the availability of unsetenv(). How do I delete items from the mapping if it's not available? os.environ['MYVAR'] = None?

Upvotes: 149

Answers (4)

Fomalhaut

Reputation: 9785

For those who search for an elegant way to unset environment variable without errors if the variable does not exist:

os.environ.pop('MYVAR', None)

That works exactly as:

if 'MYVAR' in os.environ:
    del os.environ['MYVAR']

But if you need to deal with the exception, do what other users suggested: del os.environ['MYVAR'] or os.environ.pop('MYVAR').

Upvotes: 59

Quanlong

Reputation: 25486

Try this if you need a valid method, such as in TestCase.addCleanup()

os.environ.pop('MYVAR')

Upvotes: 1

Sjoerd

Reputation: 75629

You can still delete items from the mapping, but it will not really delete the variable from the environment if unsetenv() is not available.

del os.environ['MYVAR']

Upvotes: 12

Vinay Sajip

Reputation: 99415

Just

del os.environ['MYVAR']

should work.

Upvotes: 232

What is the correct way to unset a linux environment variable in python?

Answers (4)

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