GetEnvironmentVariable
E724277
GetEnvironmentVariable is a Windows API function that retrieves the value of a specified environment variable from the calling process’s environment block.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| GetEnvironmentVariable canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8288310 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: GetEnvironmentVariable Context triple: [Kernel32, exportsFunction, GetEnvironmentVariable]
-
A.
Env API
Env API is the core interface specification in OpenAI Gym that standardizes how reinforcement learning environments interact with agents through methods like reset, step, and render.
-
B.
std::env module
The std::env module in Rust provides functions and types for interacting with the process’s environment, including environment variables, command-line arguments, and current working directory.
-
C.
System.Environment
System.Environment is a .NET class that provides information about and access to the current environment and platform, such as machine name, OS version, and environment variables.
-
D.
Vars
Vars is a French alpine commune and ski resort village located in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France.
-
E.
dbVar
dbVar is a public NCBI database that archives and provides access to human genomic structural variation data, such as insertions, deletions, and copy number variants.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: GetEnvironmentVariable Target entity description: GetEnvironmentVariable is a Windows API function that retrieves the value of a specified environment variable from the calling process’s environment block.
-
A.
Env API
Env API is the core interface specification in OpenAI Gym that standardizes how reinforcement learning environments interact with agents through methods like reset, step, and render.
-
B.
std::env module
The std::env module in Rust provides functions and types for interacting with the process’s environment, including environment variables, command-line arguments, and current working directory.
-
C.
System.Environment
System.Environment is a .NET class that provides information about and access to the current environment and platform, such as machine name, OS version, and environment variables.
-
D.
Vars
Vars is a French alpine commune and ski resort village located in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France.
-
E.
dbVar
dbVar is a public NCBI database that archives and provides access to human genomic structural variation data, such as insertions, deletions, and copy number variants.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Windows API function
ⓘ
environment variable function ⓘ |
| availableOn |
Windows 10
ⓘ
Windows 11 ⓘ Windows 2000 ⓘ Windows 7 ⓘ Windows 8 ⓘ Windows NT family ⓘ
linked to:
Windows NT
Windows Vista ⓘ Windows XP ⓘ |
| belongsToLibrary | Win32 API ⓘ |
| bufferSizeUnit | characters ⓘ |
| callingConvention | stdcall ⓘ |
| canBeUsedFrom |
.NET via PInvoke
ⓘ
C++ ⓘ |
| category | process and environment management API ⓘ |
| characterSetVariants |
GetEnvironmentVariableA
ⓘ
GetEnvironmentVariableW ⓘ |
| declaredInHeader | windows.h ⓘ |
| definedInLibrary |
Kernel32.dll
ⓘ
linked to:
Kernel32
|
| documentationSite | Microsoft Learn ⓘ |
| errorCode |
ERROR_ENVVAR_NOT_FOUND
ⓘ
ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER ⓘ |
| errorReporting | GetLastError ⓘ |
| headerLanguage | C ⓘ |
| includesNullTerminatorInCount | true ⓘ |
| introducedIn | early versions of Win32 ⓘ |
| linkerOption | link against Kernel32.lib ⓘ |
| namespace | global Win32 API namespace ⓘ |
| operatingSystem | Windows ⓘ |
| parameter |
DWORD nSize
ⓘ
LPCSTR lpName ⓘ LPCWSTR lpName (Unicode) ⓘ LPSTR lpBuffer ⓘ LPWSTR lpBuffer (Unicode) ⓘ |
| readsFrom | calling process environment block ⓘ |
| relatedFunction |
ExpandEnvironmentStrings
ⓘ
SetEnvironmentVariable ⓘ |
| requires | Windows desktop apps ⓘ |
| returns | DWORD ⓘ |
| returnValueMeaning |
0 if the environment variable does not exist or on error
ⓘ
number of characters stored in the buffer on success ⓘ required buffer size if buffer is too small ⓘ |
| scope | process-level environment variables ⓘ |
| supportsANSI | true ⓘ |
| supportsUnicode | true ⓘ |
| threadSafety | not inherently thread-safe for concurrent environment modification ⓘ |
| usage | retrieve value of a named environment variable ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: GetEnvironmentVariable Description of subject: GetEnvironmentVariable is a Windows API function that retrieves the value of a specified environment variable from the calling process’s environment block.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.