Quick way to print environment variables of a running pod

A quick post to showcase how to print environment variables of a running pod.

A quick way to print the environment variables of a running pod is to use the following command.

kubectl exec <pod-name> -- env

For example, take a look at the sample nginx pod with few additional (MY_POD and PORT) environment variables.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: my-pod
spec:
containers:
- image: nginx:1.14.2
name: nginx
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
env:
- name: POD_NAME
value: "my_pod"
- name: PORT
value: "8080"

Once the pod is in running state, you can use the following command to print the environment variables of the pod.

kubectl exec my-pod -- env

You can see the output as below listing the environment variables.

screenshot showing output of the command showcasing environment variables

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Utkarsh Shigihalli

Microsoft MVP | Developer | Passionate about Cloud, .NET and DevOps