.\" $Id$
.\"
.TH curl_getenv 3 "30 April 2004" "libcurl 7.12" "libcurl Manual"
.SH NAME
curl_getenv - return value for environment name
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <curl/curl.h>
.sp
.BI "char *curl_getenv(const char *" name ");"
.ad
.SH DESCRIPTION
curl_getenv() is a portable wrapper for the getenv() function, meant to
emulate its behaviour and provide an identical interface for all operating
systems libcurl builds on (including win32).
.SH AVAILABILITY
This function will be removed from the public libcurl API in a near future. It
will instead be made "available" by source code access only, and then as
curlx_getenv().
.SH RETURN VALUE
If successful, curl_getenv() returns a pointer to the value of the specified
environment. The memory it refers to is malloc()ed why the application must
free() this when the data has completed to serve its purpose. When
.I curl_getenv(3)
fails to find the specified name, it returns a null pointer.
.SH NOTE
Under unix operating systems, there isn't any point in returning an allocated
memory, although other systems won't work properly if this isn't done. The
unix implementation thus have to suffer slightly from the drawbacks of other
systems.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR getenv "(3C), "