Which command would you use to view PATH directly?

• A. echo $PATH
• B. printenv PATH
• C. env | grep PATH
• D. set PATH

Answer: (B)

PATH is the environment variable that lists directories the shell searches for executables. To view its value directly, using printenv PATH queries the environment and prints only the value of PATH, cleanly and predictably across shells. This avoids any shell expansion or extra text, giving a straightforward one-line result. Echoing $PATH also works, but it relies on the shell to expand the variable and can behave differently in different contexts. The other approaches either pull more of the environment or perform a different operation (like listing or setting variables), so they aren’t as direct for retrieving PATH.