Contains a file name without a path. The file it points to is used to store other Perforce environment variables. The current working directory (returned by PWD) and its parents are searched for the file. If the file exists, the variable settings within the file are used.

A sample P4CONFIG file might contain the following lines:

P4CLIENT=joes_client
P4USER=joe
P4PORT=ssl:ida:3548

P4CONFIG makes it trivial to switch Perforce settings when switching between different projects. If you place a configuration file in each of your client workspaces and set P4CONFIG to point to that file, your Perforce settings will change to the settings in the configuration files automatically as you move from directories in one workspace to another.

The file defined by P4ENVIRO contains the same kind of information as the P4CONFIG file. The difference is that the P4CONFIG variable contains just the file name of a configuration file, for which the system searches through successive parent directories; the P4ENVIRO variable contains the exact location and name of a configuration file if it is not at its default location.

Each line in the configuration file defines one variable; the definition takes the form variable=value.

You can use both P4CONFIG and P4ENVIRO files to define environment variables: use the P4CONFIG file for those variables that have different values for different workspaces and the P4ENVIRO file for those variables that remain constant for all projects. Values set in a P4CONFIG file override those set in a P4ENVIRO file.

Common variables to set within a P4CONFIG file include the following: