$ export ENVONE=HI_THERE $ env | grep ENV ENVONE=HI_THERE $ cat notset.pl #!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $envOne = $ENV{'ENVONE'}; my $envTwo = $ENV{'ENVTWO'}; print "ENVONE=" . ($envOne||"Is not set") . "ENVTWO=" . ($envTwo||"Is not set") . "\n"; $ ./notset.pl ENVONE=HI_THEREENVTWO=Is not set