GRASS and Shell

You have to set a couple of variables:

  # Example in bash shell syntax:

  # path to GRASS binaries and libraries:
  export GISBASE=/usr/local/grass60

  export PATH=$PATH:$GISBASE/bin:$GISBASE/scripts
  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$GISBASE/lib

  # path to GRASS settings file:
  export GISRC=$HOME/.grassrc6

  # use process ID (PID) as lock file number:
  export GIS_LOCK=$$

  # settings for graphical output (optional)
  export GRASS_PNGFILE=/tmp/grass6output.png
  export GRASS_TRUECOLOR=TRUE
  export GRASS_WIDTH=900
  export GRASS_PNG_COMPRESSION=1

Now you can test:

  # this should print the GRASS version used:
  g.version

If this works, you can launch other GRASS commands. This works within Shell scripts and also in the command line terminal.

See also

• Other GRASS variables