set multiple environment variables in .desktop file

Question

I can add env in .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/

Exec=env FOO=bar /usr/bin/my_prog

but I need to set 2 environment variables and no approach that I tried works (using env twice, appending second assignment after ;)

How can I set 2 env variables in .desktop file ?

The documentation for env says that name=value can be repeated. Did you try Exec=env FOO=bar SNA=fu /usr/bin/myprog ? — Mark Plotnick, Jul 29, 2018 at 12:10
@Mark Plotnick - yes I have tried that. but only the first variable has effect. The second is ignored — Martin Vegter, Jul 29, 2018 at 12:15
Cannot reproduce this and for me it works with Exec=env foo=bar bar=foo /home/user/test/test.sh. Where test.sh echos the two variables foo and bar. You might want to write a wrapper script as an alternative and call that wrapper script in your .desktop entry. — Thomas, Jul 29, 2018 at 12:27
Do your environment variable values contain any blanks or other non-alphanumeric characters? — Mark Plotnick, Jul 29, 2018 at 13:31
@MarkPlotnick Besides setting up multiple env vars, I have a special case where my environment variable value itself contains an = sign. How to escape it? — Koder101, Sep 11, 2021 at 6:54

lucidyan · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-10 12:23:32Z

4

As mentioned above, your variant with the addition of several variables should work correctly

Exec=env FOO=bar /usr/bin/my_prog

So either there is some kind of external factor, or the question is not fully correct

answered Sep 10, 2018 at 12:23

lucidyan

1605 bronze badges

Besides setting up multiple env vars, I have a special case where my environment variable value itself contains an = sign. How to escape it?
– Koder101
Sep 11, 2021 at 6:54
FOO=foo=bar HELLO=hello=world && printf "$FOO $HELLO\n" working fine in bash, but you can also quote values for safety
– lucidyan
Sep 12, 2021 at 21:56

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