# Environment Variables

This page is the "Environment Variables" section of the Voxlang language reference. It is generated from LANGUAGE.md in the Voxlang compiler's own repository, so it says what the specification says and nothing more.

A URL is the heading, lowercased, with punctuation dropped and spaces turned into hyphens. Each "##" section of the spec is a page under /docs/, and every heading inside it is a fragment on that page, so "File I/O" is /docs/file-io/ and "Reading a whole file" inside it is /docs/file-io/#reading-a-whole-file.

As data: https://vox-lang.dev/docs/index.json lists every section and every heading with its URL, https://vox-lang.dev/docs/search.json carries one entry per heading with its first sentence and keywords, and https://vox-lang.dev/docs/anchors.json maps every slug to the page it lives on. Search is also a JSON endpoint: https://vox-lang.dev/docs/search?q=<words> returns ranked results as JSON, no page load.

Source: LANGUAGE.md at bf2cba0, 2026-08-22. https://github.com/Vox-lang/vox/blob/bf2cba037976586c30d22a48e7b7246d347f54a1/LANGUAGE.md

[Reference](https://vox-lang.dev/docs/) > Environment Variables

Access environment variables using the `'s` property syntax.

## Environment Properties

| Property | Syntax | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `count` | `environment's count` | Total number of environment variables |
| `first` | `environment's first` | First env var (full "NAME=value" string) |
| `last` | `environment's last` | Last env var |
| `empty` | `environment's empty` | True if no environment variables |
| `"NAME"` | `environment's "HOME"` | Value of specific env var by name |

## Reading Environment Variables

```
a text called home is environment's "HOME".
a text called user is environment's "USER".
a text called shell is environment's "SHELL".

Print "Home: ".
Print the home.
```

## Environment Variable Count

```
a number called 'env count' is environment's count.
Print "Total environment variables: ".
Print the env count.
```

## Iterating Environment Variables

```
a text called env1 is environment's first.
Print "First env var: ".
Print the env1.
```

## Checking if Variable Exists

```
If the environment variable "DEBUG" exists then,
    Print "Debug mode enabled".
```

## Complete Example

```
(A greeter using the 's property syntax)

a text called name is "World".

(Use argument if provided, otherwise use environment variable)
If arguments's count is greater than 1 then,
    the name is arguments's first.
But if the environment variable "GREET_NAME" exists then,
    the name is environment's "GREET_NAME".

Print "Hello, ".
Print the name.
Print "!".

(Show some environment info)
a text called user is environment's "USER".
Print "Current user: ".
Print the user.
```

**Note:** The argument and environment variable functions are only included in the binary when used, keeping programs that don't need them small and efficient.