Variables - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Docs

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• If you generate a value in one step of a job, you can use the value in subsequent steps of the same job by assigning the value to an existing or new environment variable and then writing this to the GITHUB_ENV environment file.

• You can set your own custom variables or use the default environment variables that GitHub sets automatically.

• You can set a custom variable in two ways.

• environment variable

• configuration variable

• You can define variables that are scoped for:

• entire workflow

• job within a workflow

• specific step within a job

• env

• You can access env variable values using runner environment variables or using contexts

• The commands in the run steps of a workflow, or a referenced action, are processed by the shell you are using on the runner

• The instructions in the other parts of a workflow are processed by GitHub Actions and are not sent to the runner

• You can use either runner environment variables or contexts in run steps, but in the parts of a workflow that are not sent to the runner you must use contexts to access variable values.

• Because runner environment variable interpolation is done after a workflow job is sent to a runner machine, you must use the appropriate syntax for the shell that's used on the runner

• $NAME

• $env:NAME

• When you set an environment variable, you cannot use any of the default environment variable names.

• If you attempt to override the value of one of these default variables, the assignment is ignored.

• The GITHUB_ENV and GITHUB_WORKSPACE default variables are exceptions to this convention.