Edit environment settings

You can change the environment variable values for build or run environments globally or for a particular project or kit:

  • To change values globally, go to Preferences > Environment > System, and select Change in Environment.
  • To change values for a project, select Edit or Add in the project, build, or run environment settings.
  • To change values for a kit, go to Preferences > Kits > Kits, and select Edit Build Environment or Edit Run Environment in Environment.

{Edit Environment dialog}

Use the following syntax to enter environment variable names and values: <VARIABLE>=<VALUE>. To temporarily disable a variable, add a hash character (#) to the beginning of the line.

Note: Using this approach for a different statement (append, prepend, unset) may result in unexpected changes of the environment.

To remove a variable value from the environment, enter the variable name. For example, TEST sets the value of the TEST variable empty when building or running the project.

To add a variable value to the environment, enter the variable name and value, separated by the equals sign. For example, the following line prepends the /opt/bin folder to the existing PATH:

  • On Windows: PATH=C:\opt\bin;${PATH}
  • On Linux: PATH=/opt/bin:${PATH}

To add or remove several variables, place them on separate lines. The order is important. If you remove a value on a line, you cannot refer to it on the following lines. However, you can remove a value after you have referred to it on an earlier line.

To add a comment or disable any of the above actions, prefix it with two hash characters (##).

See also Specify the environment for projects, Configure projects for building, Configure projects for running, Use Qt Creator variables, and Kits.