# path variables

**URL:** <https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170>\
**Category:** UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers\
**Created:** [December 17, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170 "2007-12-17T14:23:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sszd](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/sszd/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@sszd](https://community.unix.com/u/sszd)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/1 "2007-12-17T14:23:43Z")

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I'm looking for an explanation to what appears to be some kind of shell substitution values found in various path environment variables such as PATH, CDPATH, MANPATH, etc. These values appear as things like %T, %S, %N, %L. I'm not sure what these mean, and have searched through a multitude of man pages looking for some sort of explanation. I don't know if they are related specifically to the shell, the OS, or the path variable itself. What I would like to know is, what do these mean, and what are all the possible values? Better yet, what documentation or man pages talk about these so I can read about these myself? Here are some examples of how I've seen these values used.

export CDPATH=:/${HOME}\  
:/some\_directory\_path/some\_subdirectory\  
:/another\_directory\_path/another\_subdirectory/%N

export SCHEMESEARCHPATH=/net/${DEFAULTHOST}/~/%T/%N%S\  
:/usr/atria/config/ui/Schemes/%N%S

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**Author:** ![porter](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/porter/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@porter](https://community.unix.com/u/porter)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/2 "2007-12-17T15:12:18Z")

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Those look like NLS substitutions, ie, the path changes depending on the language. Of course the code doing the lookup needs to do the substitution.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sszd](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/sszd/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@sszd](https://community.unix.com/u/sszd)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/3 "2007-12-18T10:00:22Z")

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> [@porter](#):
>
> Those look like NLS substitutions, ie, the path changes depending on the language.

If, by "NLS", you mean, "Native Language Support", then what do these substitutions mean in the english language?

> [@porter](#):
>
> Of course the code doing the lookup needs to do the substitution.

If the substitutions are being handled by the code that uses a particular path variable, then, for example, why doesn't the man page for the cd command (which uses the CDPATH variable) talk about its possible substitution values and what they mean?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![porter](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/porter/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@porter](https://community.unix.com/u/porter)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:40am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/4 "2007-12-18T11:40:03Z")

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Which operating system are you refering to?

I am not suggesting all paths depend on NLS.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sszd](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/sszd/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@sszd](https://community.unix.com/u/sszd)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/5 "2007-12-18T11:56:25Z")

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> [@porter](#):
>
> Which operating system are you refering to?

Solaris 10, and I typically use the Korn shell.

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**Author:** ![porter](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/porter/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@porter](https://community.unix.com/u/porter)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/6 "2007-12-18T12:15:42Z")

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Try starting here

[Solaris Common Desktop Environment: Advanced User's and System Administrator's Guide](http://docsun.cso.uiuc.edu/sun_docs/C/solaris_9/SUNWabe/CDEADMIN/p86.html)

I noted the environment is quite different between an SSH login and an CDE session and that XFILESEARCHPATH had the parameters as you mention.

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**Author:** ![sszd](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/sszd/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@sszd](https://community.unix.com/u/sszd)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/path-variables/179170/7 "2007-12-18T12:45:12Z")

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That seems to be of some help. Thank you.