module¶

SYNOPSIS¶

module [switches] [sub-command [sub-command-args]]

DESCRIPTION¶

module is a user interface to the Modules package. The Modules package provides for the dynamic modification of the user's environment via modulefiles.

Each modulefile contains the information needed to configure the shell for an application. Once the Modules package is initialized, the environment can be modified on a per-module basis using the module command which interprets modulefiles. Typically modulefiles instruct the module command to alter or set shell environment variables such as PATH, MANPATH, etc. Modulefiles may be shared by many users on a system and users may have their own set to supplement or replace the shared modulefiles.

The modulefiles are added to and removed from the current environment by the user. The environment changes contained in a modulefile can be summarized through the module command as well. If no arguments are given, a summary of the module usage and sub-commands are shown.

The action for the module command to take is described by the sub-command and its associated arguments.

Package Initialization¶

The Modules package and the module command are initialized when a shell-specific initialization script is sourced into the shell. The script executes the autoinit sub-command of the modulecmd.tcl program located in /usr/share/Modules/libexec for the corresponding shell. The output of this execution is evaluated by shell which creates the module command as either an alias or function and creates Modules environment variables.

During this initialization process, if the Modules environment is found undefined (when both MODULEPATH and LOADEDMODULES are found either unset or empty), the modulespath and initrc configuration files located in /etc/environment-modules are evaluated if present and following this order. modulespath file contains the list of modulepaths to enable during initialization. In this file, the modulepaths are separated by newline or colon characters. initrc is a modulefile that defines during initialization the modulepaths to enable, the modules to load and the module configuration to apply.

During the initialization process, if the Modules environment is found defined a module refresh is automatically applied to restore in the current environment all non-persistent components set by loaded modules.

The module alias or function executes the modulecmd.tcl program and has the shell evaluate the command's output. The first argument to modulecmd.tcl specifies the type of shell.

The initialization scripts are kept in /usr/share/Modules/init/<shell> where <shell> is the name of the sourcing shell. For example, a C Shell user sources the /usr/share/Modules/init/csh script. The sh, csh, tcsh, bash, ksh, zsh and fish shells are supported by modulecmd.tcl. In addition, python, perl, ruby, tcl, cmake, r and lisp "shells" are supported which writes the environment changes to stdout as python, perl, ruby, tcl, lisp, r or cmake code.

Initialization may also be performed by directly calling the autoinit sub-command of the modulecmd.tcl program.

A ml alias or function may also be defined at initialization time if enabled (see MODULES_ML section). ml is a handy frontend leveraging all module command capabilities with less character typed. See ml for detailed information.

Examples of initialization¶

C Shell initialization (and derivatives):

source /usr/share/Modules/init/csh
module load modulefile modulefile ...

Bourne Shell (sh) (and derivatives):

. /usr/share/Modules/init/sh
module load modulefile modulefile ...

Perl:

require "/usr/share/Modules/init/perl.pm";
&module('load', 'modulefile', 'modulefile', '...');

Python:

import os
exec(open('/usr/share/Modules/init/python.py').read())
module('load', 'modulefile', 'modulefile', '...')

Bourne Shell (sh) (and derivatives) with autoinit sub-command:

eval "$(/usr/share/Modules/libexec/modulecmd.tcl sh autoinit)"

Modulecmd startup¶

Upon invocation modulecmd.tcl sources a site-specific configuration script if it exists. The location for this script is /etc/environment-modules/siteconfig.tcl. An additional siteconfig script may be specified with the MODULES_SITECONFIG environment variable, if allowed by modulecmd.tcl configuration, and will be loaded if it exists after /etc/environment-modules/siteconfig.tcl. Siteconfig is a Tcl script that enables to supersede any global variable or procedure definition of modulecmd.tcl.

Afterward, modulecmd.tcl sources rc files which contain global, user and modulefile specific setups. These files are interpreted as modulefiles. See modulefile for detailed information.

Upon invocation of modulecmd.tcl module run-command files are sourced in the following order:

Global RC file as specified by MODULERCFILE variable or /etc/environment-modules/rc. If MODULERCFILE points to a directory, the modulerc file in this directory is used as global RC file.
User specific module RC file $HOME/.modulerc
All .modulerc and .version files found during modulefile seeking.

These module run-command files must begins like modulefiles with the #%Module file signature, also called the Modules magic cookie. A version number may be placed after this string. The version number reflects the minimum version of modulecmd.tcl required to interpret the run-command file. If a version number doesn't exist, then modulecmd.tcl will assume the run-command file is compatible. Files without the magic cookie or with a version number greater than the current version of modulecmd.tcl will not be interpreted and an error is reported. Such error does not abort the whole module evaluation. If the mcookie_version_check configuration is disabled the version number set is not checked.

Note

Run-command files are intended to set parameters for modulefiles, not to configure the module command itself.

Command line switches¶

The module command accepts command line switches as its first parameter. These may be used to control output format of all information displayed and the module behavior in case of locating and interpreting modulefiles.

All switches may be entered either in short or long notation. The following switches are accepted:

--all, -a¶: Include hidden modules in search performed with avail, aliases, list, search or whatis sub-commands. Hard-hidden modules are not affected by this option.

New in version 4.6.

--auto¶: On load, unload and switch sub-commands, enable automated module handling mode. See also MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING section.

New in version 4.2.

--color=<WHEN>¶: Colorize the output. WHEN defaults to always or can be never or auto. See also MODULES_COLOR section.

New in version 4.3.

--contains, -C¶: On avail and list sub-commands, return modules whose fully qualified name contains search query string.

New in version 4.3.

Changed in version 5.1: Support for list sub-command added

--debug, -D, -DD¶: Debug mode. Causes module to print debugging messages about its progress. Multiple -D options increase the debug verbosity. The maximum is 2.

New in version 4.0.

Changed in version 4.6: Option form -DD added

--default, -d¶: On avail sub-command, display only the default version of each module name. Default version is the explicitly set default version or also the implicit default version if the configuration option implicit_default is enabled (see Locating Modulefiles section in the modulefile man page for further details on implicit default version).

New in version 4.0.

--force, -f¶

On load, unload and switch sub-commands, by-pass any unsatisfied modulefile constraint corresponding to the declared prereq and conflict. Which means for instance that a modulefile will be loaded even if it comes in conflict with another loaded modulefile or that a modulefile will be unloaded even if it is required as a prereq by another modulefile.

On clear sub-command, skip the confirmation dialog and proceed.

New in version 4.3: --force/-f support was dropped on version 4.0 but reintroduced starting version 4.2 with a different meaning: instead of enabling an active dependency resolution mechanism --force command line switch now enables to by-pass dependency consistency when loading or unloading a modulefile.

--help, -h¶: Give some helpful usage information, and terminates the command.

--icase, -i¶: Match module specification arguments in a case insensitive manner.

New in version 4.4: --icase/-i support was dropped on version 4.0 but reintroduced starting version 4.4. When set, it now applies to search query string and module specification on all sub-commands and modulefile Tcl commands.

--indepth¶: On avail sub-command, include in search results the matching modulefiles and directories and recursively the modulefiles and directories contained in these matching directories.

New in version 4.3.

--json, -j¶: Display avail, list, savelist, whatis and search output in JSON format.

New in version 4.5.

--latest, -L¶: On avail sub-command, display only the highest numerically sorted version of each module name (see Locating Modulefiles section in the modulefile man page).

New in version 4.0.

--long, -l¶: Display avail, list and savelist output in long format.

--no-auto¶: On load, unload and switch sub-commands, disable automated module handling mode. See also MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING section.

New in version 4.2.

--no-indepth¶: On avail sub-command, limit search results to the matching modulefiles and directories found at the depth level expressed by the search query. Thus modulefiles contained in directories part of the result are excluded.

New in version 4.3.

--no-pager¶: Do not pipe message output into a pager.

New in version 4.1.

--no-redirect¶: Do not send message output to stdout. Keep it on stderr.

New in version 5.1.

--output=LIST, -o LIST¶

Define the content to report in addition to module names. This option is supported by avail and list sub-commands on their regular or terse output modes. Accepted values are a LIST of elements to report separated by colon character (:). The order of the elements in LIST does not matter.

Accepted elements in LIST for avail sub-command are: modulepath, alias, dirwsym, sym, tag and key.

Accepted elements in LIST for list sub-command are: header, idx, variant, sym, tag and key.

The order of the elements in LIST does not matter. Module names are the only content reported when LIST is set to an empty value.

New in version 4.7.

Changed in version 4.8: Element variant added for list sub-command

--paginate¶: Pipe all message output into less (or if set, to the command referred in MODULES_PAGER variable) if error output stream is a terminal. See also MODULES_PAGER section.

New in version 4.1.

--redirect¶: Send message output to stdout instead of stderr. Only supported on sh, bash, ksh, zsh and fish shells.

New in version 5.1.

--silent, -s¶: Turn off error, warning and informational messages. module command output result is not affected by silent mode.

New in version 4.3: --silent/-s support was dropped on version 4.0 but reintroduced starting version 4.3.

--starts-with, -S¶: On avail and list sub-commands, return modules whose name starts with search query string.

New in version 4.3.

Changed in version 5.1: Support for list sub-command added

--tag=LIST¶: On load, load-any, switch and try-load sub-commands, apply LIST of module tags to the loading modulefile. LIST corresponds to the concatenation of multiple tags separated by colon character (:). LIST should not contain tags inherited from modulefile state or from other modulefile commands. If module is already loaded, tags from LIST are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

New in version 5.1.

--terse, -t¶: Display avail, list and savelist output in short format.

--trace, -T¶: Trace mode. Report details on module searches, resolutions, selections and evaluations in addition to printing verbose messages.

New in version 4.6.

--verbose, -v, -vv¶: Enable verbose messages during module command execution. Multiple -v options increase the verbosity level. The maximum is 2.

New in version 4.3: --verbose/-v support was dropped on version 4.0 but reintroduced starting version 4.3.

Changed in version 4.7: Option form -vv added

--version, -V¶: Lists the current version of the module command. The command then terminates without further processing.

--width=COLS, -w COLS¶: Set the width of the output to COLS columns. See also MODULES_TERM_WIDTH section.

New in version 4.7.

Module Sub-Commands¶

add [options] modulefile...¶: See load.

add-any [options] modulefile...¶: See load-any.

New in version 5.1.

aliases [-a]¶: List all available symbolic version-names and aliases in the current MODULEPATH. All directories in the MODULEPATH are recursively searched in the same manner than for the avail sub-command. Only the symbolic version-names and aliases found in the search are displayed.

New in version 4.0.

Changed in version 4.6: Option --all/-a added

append-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--duplicates] variable value...¶

Append value to environment variable. The variable is a colon, or delimiter, separated list. See append-path in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

When append-path is called as a module sub-command, the reference counter variable, which denotes the number of times value has been added to environment variable, is not updated unless if the --duplicates option is set.

New in version 4.1.

Changed in version 5.0: Reference counter environment variable is not updated anymore unless if the --duplicates option is set

apropos [-a] [-j] string¶: See search.

List all available modulefiles in the current MODULEPATH. All directories in the MODULEPATH are recursively searched for files containing the Modules magic cookie. If a pattern argument is given, then each directory in the MODULEPATH is searched for modulefiles whose pathname, symbolic version-name or alias match pattern in a case insensitive manner by default. pattern may contain wildcard characters. Multiple versions of an application can be supported by creating a subdirectory for the application containing modulefiles for each version.

Symbolic version-names and aliases found in the search are displayed in the result of this sub-command. Symbolic version-names are displayed next to the modulefile they are assigned to within parenthesis. Aliases are listed in the MODULEPATH section where they have been defined. To distinguish aliases from modulefiles a @ symbol is added within parenthesis next to their name. Aliases defined through a global or user specific module RC file are listed under the global/user modulerc section.

When colored output is enabled and a specific graphical rendition is defined for module default version, the default symbol is omitted and instead the defined graphical rendition is applied to the relative modulefile. When colored output is enabled and a specific graphical rendition is defined for module alias, the @ symbol is omitted. The defined graphical rendition applies to the module alias name. See MODULES_COLOR and MODULES_COLORS sections for details on colored output.

Module tags applying to the available modulefiles returned by the avail sub-command are reported along the module name they are associated to (see Module tags section).

A Key section is added at the end of the output in case some elements are reported in parentheses or chevrons along module name or if some graphical rendition is made over some output elements. This Key section gives hints on the meaning of such elements.

The parameter pattern may also refer to a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

Changed in version 4.0: Options --default/-d, --latest/-L added

Changed in version 4.3: Options --starts-with/-S, --contains/-C, --indepth, --no-indepth added

Changed in version 4.5: Option --json/-j added

Changed in version 4.6: Option --all/-a added

Changed in version 4.7: Key section added at end of output

Changed in version 4.7: Option --output/-o added, compatible with regular and terse output modes

clear [-f]¶: Force the Modules package to believe that no modules are currently loaded. A confirmation is requested if command-line switch -f (or --force) is not passed. Typed confirmation should equal to yes or y in order to proceed.

New in version 4.3: clear support was dropped on version 4.0 but reintroduced starting version 4.3.

config [--dump-state|name [value]|--reset name]¶

Gets or sets modulecmd.tcl options. Reports the currently set value of passed option name or all existing options if no name passed. If a name and a value are provided, the value of option name is set to value. If command-line switch --reset is passed in addition to a name, overridden value for option name is cleared.

When a reported option value differs from default value a mention is added to indicate whether the overridden value is coming from a command-line switch (cmd-line) or from an environment variable (env-var). When a reported option value is locked and cannot be altered a (locked) mention is added.

If no value is currently set for an option name, the mention <undef> is reported.

When command-line switch --dump-state is passed, current modulecmd.tcl state and Modules-related environment variables are reported in addition to currently set modulecmd.tcl options.

Existing option names are:

advanced_version_spec¶

Advanced module version specification to finely select modulefiles.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-advanced-version-spec option. The MODULES_ADVANCED_VERSION_SPEC environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_ADVANCED_VERSION_SPEC description for details.

New in version 4.4.

auto_handling¶

Automated module handling mode.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-auto-handling option. The MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --auto and --no-auto command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING description for details.

avail_indepth¶

avail sub-command in depth search mode.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-avail-indepth option. The MODULES_AVAIL_INDEPTH environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --indepth and --no-indepth command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_AVAIL_INDEPTH description for details.

avail_output¶

Content to report in addition to module names on avail sub-command regular output mode.

Default value is modulepath:alias:dirwsym:sym:tag:key. It can be changed at installation time with --with-avail-output option. The MODULES_AVAIL_OUTPUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --output/-o command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_AVAIL_OUTPUT description for details.

New in version 4.7.

avail_terse_output¶

Content to report in addition to module names on avail sub-command terse output mode.

Default value is modulepath:alias:dirwsym:sym:tag. It can be changed at installation time with --with-avail-terse-output option. The MODULES_AVAIL_TERSE_OUTPUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --output/-o command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_AVAIL_TERSE_OUTPUT description for details.

New in version 4.7.

collection_pin_version¶

Register exact modulefile version in collection.

Default value is 0. The MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_VERSION environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_VERSION description for details.

collection_pin_tag¶

Register full tag list applying to modulefiles in collection.

Default value is 0. The MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_TAG environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_TAG description for details.

New in version 5.1.

collection_target¶

Collection target which is valid for current system.

This configuration option is unset by default. The MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET description for details.

color¶

Colored output mode.

Default value is auto. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-color option. The MODULES_COLOR environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --color command line switches changes the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_COLOR description for details.

colors¶

Chosen colors to highlight output items.

Default value is hi=1:db=2:tr=2:se=2:er=91:wa=93:me=95:in=94:mp=1;94:di=94:al=96:va=93:sy=95:de=4:cm=92:aL=100:L=90;47:H=2:F=41:nF=43:S=46:sS=44:kL=30;48;5;109. It can be changed at installation time with --with-dark-background-colors or --with-light-background-colors options in conjunction with --with-terminal-background. The MODULES_COLORS environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_COLORS description for details.

contact¶

Modulefile contact address.

Default value is root@localhost. The MODULECONTACT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULECONTACT description for details.

extended_default¶

Allow partial module version specification.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-extended-default option. The MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT description for details.

New in version 4.4.

editor¶

Text editor command to open modulefile with through edit sub-command.

Default value is vi. It can be changed at installation time with --with-editor option. The MODULES_EDITOR environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_EDITOR description for details.

New in version 4.8.

extra_siteconfig¶

Additional site-specific configuration script location.

This configuration option is unset by default. The MODULES_SITECONFIG environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_SITECONFIG description for details.

home¶

Location of Modules package main directory.

Default value is /usr/share/Modules. It can be changed at installation time with --prefix or --with-moduleshome options. The MODULESHOME environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULESHOME description for details.

New in version 4.4.

icase¶

Enable case insensitive match.

Default value is search. It can be changed at installation time with --with-icase option. The MODULES_ICASE environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --icase/-i command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_ICASE description for details.

New in version 4.4.

ignored_dirs¶

Directories ignored when looking for modulefiles.

Default value is CVS RCS SCCS .svn .git .SYNC .sos. The value of this option cannot be altered.

implicit_default¶

Set an implicit default version for modules.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-implicit-default option. The MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT description for details.

implicit_requirement¶

Implicitly define a requirement onto modules specified on module commands in modulefile.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-implicit-requirement option. The MODULES_IMPLICIT_REQUIREMENT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_IMPLICIT_REQUIREMENT description for details.

New in version 4.7.

list_output¶

Content to report in addition to module names on list sub-command regular output mode.

Default value is header:idx:variant:sym:tag:key. It can be changed at installation time with --with-list-output option. The MODULES_LIST_OUTPUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --output/-o command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_LIST_OUTPUT description for details.

New in version 4.7.

list_terse_output¶

Content to report in addition to module names on list sub-command terse output mode.

Default value is header. It can be changed at installation time with --with-list-terse-output option. The MODULES_LIST_TERSE_OUTPUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --output/-o command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_LIST_TERSE_OUTPUT description for details.

New in version 4.7.

locked_configs¶

Configuration options that cannot be superseded. All options referred in locked_configs value are locked, thus their value cannot be altered.

This configuration option is set to an empty value by default. It can be changed at installation time with --with-locked-configs option. The value of this option cannot be altered.

mcookie_check¶

Defines if the Modules magic cookie (i.e., #%Module file signature) should be checked to determine if a file is a modulefile.

Default value is always. The MODULES_MCOOKIE_CHECK environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_MCOOKIE_CHECK description for details.

New in version 5.1.

mcookie_version_check¶

Defines if the version set in the Modules magic cookie used in modulefile should be checked against the version of modulecmd.tcl to determine if the modulefile could be evaluated or not.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-mcookie-version-check option. The MODULES_MCOOKIE_VERSION_CHECK environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_MCOOKIE_VERSION_CHECK description for details.

New in version 4.7.

ml¶

Define ml command at initialization time.

Default value is 1. It can be changed at installation time with --disable-ml option. The MODULES_ML environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_ML description for details.

New in version 4.5.

nearly_forbidden_days¶

Set the number of days a module should be considered nearly forbidden prior reaching its expiry date.

Default value is 14. It can be changed at installation time with --with-nearly-forbidden-days option. The MODULES_NEARLY_FORBIDDEN_DAYS environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_NEARLY_FORBIDDEN_DAYS description for details.

New in version 4.6.

pager¶

Text viewer to paginate message output.

Default value is less -eFKRX. It can be changed at installation time with --with-pager and --with-pager-opts options. The MODULES_PAGER environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_PAGER description for details.

quarantine_support¶

Defines if code for quarantine mechanism support should be generated in module shell function definition.

Default value is 0. It can be changed at installation time with --enable-quarantine-support option. The MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT description for details.

New in version 5.0.

rcfile¶

Global run-command file location.

This configuration option is unset by default. The MODULERCFILE environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULERCFILE description for details.

redirect_output¶

Control whether or not the output of module command should be redirected from stderr to stdout.

Default value is 1. The MODULES_REDIRECT_OUTPUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --redirect and --no-redirect command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_REDIRECT_OUTPUT description for details.

New in version 5.1.

run_quarantine¶

Environment variables to indirectly pass to modulecmd.tcl.

This configuration option is set to an empty value by default. It can be changed at installation time with --with-quarantine-vars option that sets MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE. This environment variable is also defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option. See MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE description for details.

search_match¶

Module search match style.

Default value is starts_with. It can be changed at installation time with --with-search-match option. The MODULES_SEARCH_MATCH environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --contains and --starts-with command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_SEARCH_MATCH description for details.

set_shell_startup¶

Ensure module command definition by setting shell startup file.

Default value is 0. It can be changed at installation time with --enable-set-shell-startup option. The MODULES_SET_SHELL_STARTUP environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_SET_SHELL_STARTUP description for details.

shells_with_ksh_fpath¶

Ensure module command is defined in ksh when it is started as a sub-shell from the listed shells.

This configuration option is set to an empty value by default. The MODULES_SHELLS_WITH_KSH_FPATH environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_SHELLS_WITH_KSH_FPATH description for details.

New in version 4.7.

silent_shell_debug¶

Disablement of shell debugging property for the module command. Also defines if code to silence shell debugging property should be generated in module shell function definition.

Default value is 0. It can be changed at installation time with --enable-silent-shell-debug-support option. The MODULES_SILENT_SHELL_DEBUG environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_SILENT_SHELL_DEBUG description for details.

siteconfig¶

Primary site-specific configuration script location.

Default value is /etc/environment-modules/siteconfig.tcl. It can be changed at installation time with --prefix or --etcdir options. The value of this option cannot be altered.

tag_abbrev¶

Abbreviations to use to report module tags.

Default value is auto-loaded=aL:loaded=L:hidden=H:hidden-loaded=H:forbidden=F:nearly-forbidden=nF:sticky=S:super-sticky=sS:keep-loaded=kL. It can be changed at installation time with --with-tag-abbrev option. The MODULES_TAG_ABBREV environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_TAG_ABBREV description for details.

New in version 4.7.

tag_color_name¶

Tags whose name should be colored instead of module name.

This configuration option is set to an empty value by default. It can be changed at installation time with --with-tag-color-name option. The MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME description for details.

New in version 4.7.

tcl_ext_lib¶

Modules Tcl extension library location.

Default value is /usr/share/Modules/lib64/libtclenvmodules.so. It can be changed at installation time with --prefix or --libdir options. The value of this option cannot be altered.

term_background¶

Terminal background color kind.

Default value is dark. It can be changed at installation time with --with-terminal-background option. The MODULES_TERM_BACKGROUND environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_TERM_BACKGROUND description for details.

term_width¶

Set the width of the output.

Default value is 0. The MODULES_TERM_WIDTH environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --width/-w command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_TERM_WIDTH description for details.

New in version 4.7.

unload_match_order¶

Unload firstly loaded or lastly loaded module matching request.

Default value is returnlast. It can be changed at installation time with --with-unload-match-order option. The MODULES_UNLOAD_MATCH_ORDER environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_UNLOAD_MATCH_ORDER description for details.

variant_shortcut¶

Shortcut characters that could be used to specify or report module variants.

This configuration option is set to an empty value by default. It can be changed at installation time with --with-variant-shortcut option. The MODULES_VARIANT_SHORTCUT environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_VARIANT_SHORTCUT description for details.

New in version 4.8.

verbosity¶

Module command verbosity level.

Default value is normal. It can be changed at installation time with --with-verbosity option. The MODULES_VERBOSITY environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. The --debug/-D, --silent/-s, --trace/-T and --verbose/-v command line switches change the value of this configuration option. See MODULES_VERBOSITY description for details.

wa_277¶

Workaround for Tcsh history issue.

Default value is 0. It can be changed at installation time with --enable-wa-277 option. The MODULES_WA_277 environment variable is defined by config sub-command when changing this configuration option from its default value. See MODULES_WA_277 description for details.

New in version 4.3.

display modulefile...¶

Display information about one or more modulefiles. The display sub-command will list the full path of the modulefile and the environment changes the modulefile will make if loaded. (Note: It will not display any environment changes found within conditional statements.)

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

edit modulefile¶

Open modulefile for edition with text editor command designated by the editor configuration option.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.8.

help [modulefile...]¶

Print the usage of each sub-command. If an argument is given, print the Module-specific help information for the modulefile.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

info-loaded modulefile¶: Returns the names of currently loaded modules matching passed modulefile. Returns an empty string if passed modulefile does not match any loaded modules. See module-info loaded in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

New in version 4.1.

initadd modulefile...¶

Add modulefile to the shell's initialization file in the user's home directory. The startup files checked (in order) are:

C Shell

.modules, .cshrc, .csh_variables and .login

TENEX C Shell

.modules, .tcshrc, .cshrc, .csh_variables and .login

Bourne and Korn Shells

.modules, .profile

GNU Bourne Again Shell

.modules, .bash_profile, .bash_login, .profile and .bashrc

Z Shell

.modules, .zshrc, .zshenv and .zlogin

Friendly Interactive Shell

.modules, .config/fish/config.fish

If a module load line is found in any of these files, the modulefiles are appended to any existing list of modulefiles. The module load line must be located in at least one of the files listed above for any of the init sub-commands to work properly. If the module load line is found in multiple shell initialization files, all of the lines are changed.

initclear¶: Clear all of the modulefiles from the shell's initialization files.

initlist¶: List all of the modulefiles loaded from the shell's initialization file.

initprepend modulefile...¶: Does the same as initadd but prepends the given modules to the beginning of the list.

initrm modulefile...¶: Remove modulefile from the shell's initialization files.

initswitch modulefile1 modulefile2¶: Switch modulefile1 with modulefile2 in the shell's initialization files.

is-avail modulefile...¶

Returns a true value if any of the listed modulefiles exists in enabled MODULEPATH. Returns a false value otherwise. See is-avail in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.1.

is-loaded [modulefile...]¶

Returns a true value if any of the listed modulefiles has been loaded or if any modulefile is loaded in case no argument is provided. Returns a false value otherwise. See is-loaded in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.1.

is-saved [collection...]¶: Returns a true value if any of the listed collections exists or if any collection exists in case no argument is provided. Returns a false value otherwise. See is-saved in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

New in version 4.1.

is-used [directory...]¶: Returns a true value if any of the listed directories has been enabled in MODULEPATH or if any directory is enabled in case no argument is provided. Returns a false value otherwise. See is-used in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

New in version 4.1.

keyword [-a] [-j] string¶: See search.

list [-t|-l|-j] [-a] [-o LIST] [-S|-C] [pattern...]¶

List loaded modules. If a pattern is given, then the loaded modules are filtered to only list those whose name match this pattern. It may contain wildcard characters. pattern is matched in a case insensitive manner by default. If multiple patterns are given, loaded modules has to match at least one of them to be listed.

Module tags applying to the loaded modules are reported along the module name they are associated to (see Module tags section).

Module variants selected on the loaded modules are reported along the module name they belong to (see Module variants section).

A Key section is added at the end of the output in case some elements are reported in parentheses or chevrons along module name or if some graphical rendition is made over some output elements. This Key section gives hints on the meaning of such elements.

The parameter pattern may also refer to a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

Changed in version 4.5: Option --json/-j added

Changed in version 4.7: Option --all/-a added

Changed in version 4.7: Key section added at end of output

Changed in version 4.7: Option --output/-o added, compatible with regular and terse output modes.

Changed in version 4.8: Report if enabled the variants selected on loaded modules

Changed in version 5.1: pattern search to filter loaded modules added

Changed in version 5.1: Options --starts-with/-S and --contains/-C added

load [options] modulefile...¶

Load modulefile into the shell environment.

load command accepts the following options:

--auto|--no-auto
-f|--force
--tag=taglist

Once loaded, the loaded module tag is associated to the loaded module. If module has been automatically loaded by another module, the auto-loaded tag is associated instead (see Module tags section).

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

The --tag option accepts a list of module tags to apply to modulefile once loaded. If module is already loaded, tags from taglist are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

Changed in version 4.2: Options --auto, --no-auto, --force/-f added

Changed in version 5.1: Option --tag added

load-any [options] modulefile...¶

Load into the shell environment one of the modulefile specified. Try to load each modulefile specified in list from the left to the right until one got loaded or is found already loaded. Do not complain if modulefile cannot be found but if its evaluation fails an error is reported.

load-any command accepts the following options:

--auto|--no-auto
-f|--force
--tag=taglist

Once loaded, the loaded module tag is associated to the loaded module. If module has been automatically loaded by another module, the auto-loaded tag is associated instead (see Module tags section).

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

The --tag option accepts a list of module tags to apply to modulefile once loaded. If module is already loaded, tags from taglist are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

New in version 5.1.

path modulefile¶

Print path to modulefile.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.0.

paths modulefile¶

Print path of available modulefiles matching argument.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.0.

prepend-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--duplicates] variable value...¶

Prepend value to environment variable. The variable is a colon, or delimiter, separated list. See prepend-path in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

When prepend-path is called as a module sub-command, the reference counter variable, which denotes the number of times value has been added to environment variable, is not updated unless if the --duplicates option is set.

New in version 4.1.

Changed in version 5.0: Reference counter environment variable is not updated anymore unless if the --duplicates option is set

purge [-f]¶

Unload all loaded modulefiles.

When the --force option is set, also unload modulefiles that are depended by unloadable modules.

Changed in version 4.7: Option --force/-f added

refresh¶

Force a refresh of all non-persistent components of currently loaded modules. This should be used on derived shells where shell aliases or shell functions need to be reinitialized but the environment variables have already been set by the currently loaded modules.

Loaded modules are evaluated in refresh mode following their load order. In this evaluation mode only the set-alias and set-function modulefile commands will produce environment changes. Other modulefile commands that produce environment changes (like setenv or append-path) are ignored during a refresh evaluation as their changes should already be applied.

Changed in version 4.0: Sub-command made as an alias of reload sub-command

Changed in version 5.0: Behavior of version 3.2 refresh sub-command restored

reload¶

Unload then load all loaded modulefiles.

No unload then load is performed and an error is returned if the loaded modulefiles have unsatisfied constraint corresponding to the prereq and conflict they declare.

New in version 4.0.

remove-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--index] variable value...¶

Remove value from the colon, or delimiter, separated list in environment variable. See remove-path in the modulefile man page for further explanation.

When remove-path is called as a module sub-command, the reference counter variable, which denotes the number of times value has been added to environment variable, is ignored and value is removed whatever the reference counter value set.

New in version 4.1.

Changed in version 5.0: value is removed whatever its reference counter value

restore [collection]¶

Restore the environment state as defined in collection. If collection name is not specified, then it is assumed to be the default collection. If collection is a fully qualified path, it is restored from this location rather than from a file under the user's collection directory. If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, a suffix equivalent to the value of this variable is appended to the collection file name to restore.

When restoring a collection, the currently set MODULEPATH directory list and the currently loaded modulefiles are unused and unloaded then used and loaded to exactly match the MODULEPATH and loaded modulefiles lists saved in this collection file. The order of the paths and modulefiles set in collection is preserved when restoring. It means that currently loaded modules are unloaded to get the same LOADEDMODULES root than collection and currently used module paths are unused to get the same MODULEPATH root. Then missing module paths are used and missing modulefiles are loaded.

If a module, without a default version explicitly defined, is recorded in a collection by its bare name: loading this module when restoring the collection will fail if the configuration option implicit_default is disabled.

New in version 4.0.

rm [--auto|--no-auto] [-f] modulefile...¶: See unload.

save [collection]¶

Record the currently set MODULEPATH directory list and the currently loaded modulefiles in a collection file under the user's collection directory $HOME/.module. If collection name is not specified, then it is assumed to be the default collection. If collection is a fully qualified path, it is saved at this location rather than under the user's collection directory.

If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, a suffix equivalent to the value of this variable will be appended to the collection file name.

By default, if a loaded modulefile corresponds to the explicitly defined default module version, the bare module name is recorded. If the configuration option implicit_default is enabled, the bare module name is also recorded for the implicit default module version. If MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_VERSION is set to 1, module version is always recorded even if it is the default version.

By default, only the module tags specifically set with the --tag option or resulting from a specific module state (like auto-loaded and keep-loaded tags) are recorded in collection. If MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_TAG is set to 1, all tags are recorded in collection except nearly-forbidden tag.

No collection is recorded and an error is returned if the loaded modulefiles have unsatisfied constraint corresponding to the prereq and conflict they declare.

New in version 4.0.

savelist [-t|-l|-j]¶: List collections that are currently saved under the user's collection directory. If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, only collections matching the target suffix will be displayed.

New in version 4.0.

Changed in version 4.5: Option --json/-j added

saverm [collection]¶: Delete the collection file under the user's collection directory. If collection name is not specified, then it is assumed to be the default collection. If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, a suffix equivalent to the value of this variable will be appended to the collection file name.

New in version 4.0.

saveshow [collection]¶: Display the content of collection. If collection name is not specified, then it is assumed to be the default collection. If collection is a fully qualified path, this location is displayed rather than a collection file under the user's collection directory. If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, a suffix equivalent to the value of this variable will be appended to the collection file name.

New in version 4.0.

search [-a] [-j] string¶: Seeks through the module-whatis information of all modulefiles for the specified string. All module-whatis information matching the string in a case insensitive manner will be displayed. string may contain wildcard characters.

New in version 4.0: Prior version 4.0 module-whatis information search was performed with apropos or keyword sub-commands.

Changed in version 4.5: Option --json/-j added

Changed in version 4.6: Option --all/-a added

sh-to-mod shell script [arg...]¶

Evaluate with shell the designated script with defined arguments to find out the environment changes it does. Environment prior and after script evaluation are compared to determine these changes. They are translated into modulefile commands to output the modulefile content equivalent to the evaluation of shell script.

Changes on environment variables, shell aliases, shell functions, shell completions and current working directory are tracked.

Changes made on environment variable intended for Modules private use (e.g., LOADEDMODULES, _LMFILES_, __MODULES_*) are ignored.

Shell could be specified as a command name or a fully qualified pathname. The following shells are supported: sh, dash, csh, tcsh, bash, ksh, ksh93, zsh and fish.

New in version 4.6.

Changed in version 5.1: Changes on Modules private environment variable are ignored

Changed in version 5.1: Support for tracking shell completion changes on bash, tcsh and fish shells added

show modulefile...¶: See display.

source scriptfile...¶: Execute scriptfile into the shell environment. scriptfile must be written with modulefile syntax and specified with a fully qualified path. Once executed scriptfile is not marked loaded in shell environment which differ from load sub-command.

New in version 4.0.

state [name]¶: Gets modulecmd.tcl states. Reports the currently set value of passed state name or all existing states if no name passed.

New in version 5.1.

swap [options] [modulefile1] modulefile2¶: See switch.

switch [options] [modulefile1] modulefile2¶

Switch loaded modulefile1 with modulefile2. If modulefile1 is not specified, then it is assumed to be the currently loaded module with the same root name as modulefile2.

switch command accepts the following options:

--auto|--no-auto
-f|--force
--tag=taglist

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

The --tag option accepts a list of module tags to apply to modulefile once loaded. If module is already loaded, tags from taglist are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

Changed in version 4.2: Options --auto, --no-auto, --force/-f added

Changed in version 5.1: Option --tag added

test modulefile...¶

Execute and display results of the Module-specific tests for the modulefile.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

New in version 4.0.

try-add [options] modulefile...¶: See try-load.

New in version 4.8.

try-load [options] modulefile...¶

Like load sub-command, load modulefile into the shell environment, but do not complain if modulefile cannot be found. If modulefile is found but its evaluation fails, error is still reported.

try-load command accepts the following options:

--auto|--no-auto
-f|--force
--tag=taglist

Once loaded, the loaded module tag is associated to the loaded module. If module has been automatically loaded by another module, the auto-loaded tag is associated instead (see Module tags section).

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

The --tag option accepts a list of module tags to apply to modulefile once loaded. If module is already loaded, tags from taglist are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

New in version 4.8.

Changed in version 5.1: Option --tag added

unload [--auto|--no-auto] [-f] modulefile...¶

Remove modulefile from the shell environment.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

Changed in version 4.2: Options --auto, --no-auto, --force/-f added

unuse directory...¶

Remove one or more directories from the MODULEPATH environment variable.

If module unuse is called during a modulefile evaluation, the reference counter environment variable __MODULES_SHARE_MODULEPATH, which denotes the number of times directory has been enabled, is checked and directory is removed only if its relative counter is equal to 1 or not defined. Otherwise directory is kept and reference counter is decreased by 1. When module unuse is called from the command-line or within an initialization modulefile script directory is removed whatever the reference counter value set.

If directory corresponds to the concatenation of multiple paths separated by colon character, each path is treated separately.

Changed in version 5.0: directory is removed whatever its reference counter value if module unuse is called from the command-line or within an initialization modulefile script

Changed in version 5.0: Accept several modulepaths passed as a single string

use [-a|--append] directory...¶

Prepend one or more directories to the MODULEPATH environment variable. The --append flag will append the directory to MODULEPATH.

When directory is already defined in MODULEPATH, it is not added again or moved at the end or at the beginning of the environment variable.

If module use is called during a modulefile evaluation, the reference counter environment variable __MODULES_SHARE_MODULEPATH is also set to increase the number of times directory has been added to MODULEPATH. Reference counter is not updated when module use is called from the command-line or within an initialization modulefile script.

A directory that does not exist yet can be specified as argument and then be added to MODULEPATH.

Changed in version 5.0: Accept non-existent modulepath

Changed in version 5.0: Reference counter value of directory is not anymore increased if module use is called from the command-line or within an initialization modulefile script

whatis [-a] [-j] [modulefile...]¶

Display the information set up by the module-whatis commands inside the specified modulefiles. These specified modulefiles may be expressed using wildcard characters. If no modulefile is specified, all module-whatis lines will be shown.

The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers section below).

Changed in version 4.5: Option --json/-j added

Changed in version 4.6: Option --all/-a added

Modulefiles¶

modulefiles are written in the Tool Command Language (Tcl) and are interpreted by modulecmd.tcl. modulefiles can use conditional statements. Thus the effect a modulefile will have on the environment may change depending upon the current state of the environment.

Environment variables are unset when unloading a modulefile. Thus, it is possible to load a modulefile and then unload it without having the environment variables return to their prior state.

Advanced module version specifiers¶

When the advanced module version specifiers mechanism is enabled (see MODULES_ADVANCED_VERSION_SPEC), the specification of modulefile passed on Modules sub-commands changes. After the module name a version constraint and variants may be added.

Version specifiers¶

After the module name a version constraint prefixed by the @ character may be added. It could be directly appended to the module name or separated from it with a space character.

Constraints can be expressed to refine the selection of module version to:

a single version with the @version syntax, for instance foo@1.2.3 syntax will select module foo/1.2.3
a list of versions with the @version1,version2,... syntax, for instance foo@1.2.3,1.10 will match modules foo/1.2.3 and foo/1.10
a range of versions with the @version1:, @:version2 and @version1:version2 syntaxes, for instance foo@1.2: will select all versions of module foo greater than or equal to 1.2, foo@:1.3 will select all versions less than or equal to 1.3 and foo@1.2:1.3 matches all versions between 1.2 and 1.3 including 1.2 and 1.3 versions

Advanced specification of single version or list of versions may benefit from the activation of the extended default mechanism (see MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT) to use an abbreviated notation like @1 to refer to more precise version numbers like 1.2.3. Range of versions on its side natively handles abbreviated versions.

In order to be specified in a range of versions or compared to a range of versions, the version major element should corresponds to a number. For instance 10a, 1.2.3, 1.foo are versions valid for range comparison whereas default or foo.2 versions are invalid for range comparison.

Range of versions can be specified in version list, for instance foo@:1.2,1.4:1.6,1.8:. Such specification helps to exclude specific versions, like versions 1.3 and 1.7 in previous example.

If the implicit default mechanism is also enabled (see MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT), a default and latest symbolic versions are automatically defined for each module name (also at each directory level for deep modulefiles). These automatic version symbols are defined unless a symbolic version, alias, or regular module version already exists for these default or latest version names. Using the mod@latest (or mod/latest) syntax ensures highest available version will be selected.

The symbolic version loaded may be used over loaded module name to designate the loaded version of the module with associated selected variants. This version symbol should be specified using the @ prefix notation (e.g., foo@loaded). An error is returned if no version of designated module is currently loaded.

Variants¶

After the module name, variants can be specified. Module variants are alternative evaluation of the same modulefile. A variant is specified by associating a value to its name. This specification is then transmitted to the evaluating modulefile which instantiates the variant in the ModuleVariant array variable when reaching the variant modulefile command declaring this variant.

Variant can be specified with the name=value syntax where name is the declared variant name and value, the value this variant is set to when evaluating the modulefile.

Boolean variants can be specified with the +name syntax to set this variant on and with the -name or ~name syntaxes to set this variant off. The -name syntax is not supported on ml command as the minus sign already means to unload designated module. The ~name and +name syntaxes could also be defined appended to another specification word (e.g., the module name, version or another variant specification), whereas -name syntax must be the start of a new specification word.

Boolean variants may also be specified with the name=value syntax. value should be set to 1, true, t, yes, y or on to enable the variant or it should be set to 0, false, f, no, n or off to disable the variant.

Shortcuts may be used to abbreviate variant specification. The variant_shortcut configuration option associates shortcut character to variant name. With a shortcut defined, variant could be specified with the <shortcut>value syntax. For instance if character % is set as a shortcut for variant foo, the %value syntax is equivalent to the foo=value syntax.

Specific characters used in variant specification syntax cannot be used as part of the name of a module. These specific characters are +, ~, = and all characters set as variant shortcut. Exception is made for + character which could be set one or several consecutive times at the end of module name (e.g., name+ or name++).

New in version 4.4.

Changed in version 4.8: Use of version range is allowed in version list

Changed in version 4.8: Support for module variant added

Module tags¶

Module tags are piece of information that can be associated to individual modulefiles. Tags could be purely informational or may lead to specific behaviors.

Module tags may be inherited from the module state set by a modulefile command or consequence of a module action. The inherited tags are:

auto-loaded: module has been automatically loaded by another module
forbidden: module has been set forbidden through the use of the module-forbid command and thus this module cannot be loaded.
hidden: module has been set hidden through the use of the module-hide command and thus it is not reported by default among the result of an avail sub-command.
hidden-loaded: module has been set hidden once loaded through the use of the module-hide --hidden-loaded command thus it is not reported bu default among the result of a list sub-command.
loaded: module is currently loaded
nearly-forbidden: module will soon be forbidden, which has been set through the use of the module-forbid command. Thus this module will soon not be able to load anymore.

Tags may also be associated to modules by using the module-tag modulefile command. Among tags that could be set this way, some have a special meaning:

keep-loaded: auto-loaded module cannot be automatically unloaded. This tag is also set through the use of the always-load command.
sticky: module once loaded cannot be unloaded unless forced or reloaded (see Sticky modules section)
super-sticky: module once loaded cannot be unloaded unless reloaded, module cannot be unloaded even if forced (see Sticky modules section)

The --tag option helps to apply additional tags to modules. It is available on load, load-any, switch and try-load sub-commands and on always-load, depends-on, module, prereq, prereq-all and prereq-any modulefile commands. In case the designated module is already loaded, the additional tags are added to the list of tags already applied to this module.

Module tags are reported along the module they are associated to on avail and list sub-command results and also when module's loading, unloading, refreshing or tagging evaluation is mentioned. Tags could be reported either:

along the module name, all tags set within angle brackets, each tag separated from the others with a colon character (e.g., foo/1.2 <tag1:tag2>).
graphically rendered over the module name for each tag associated to a Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) code in the color palette (see MODULES_COLORS)

When an abbreviated string is associated to a tag name (see MODULES_TAG_ABBREV), this abbreviation is used to report tag along the module name or the tag is graphically rendered over the module name if a SGR code is associated with tag abbreviation in the color palette. With an abbreviation set, the SGR code associated to the tag full name is ignored thus an SGR code should be associated to the abbreviation to get a graphical rendering of tag. If the abbreviation associated to a tag corresponds to the empty string, tag is not reported.

Graphical rendering is made over the tag name or abbreviation instead of over the module name for each tag name or abbreviation set in the MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME environment variable.

When several tags have to be rendered graphically over the same module name, each tag is rendered over a sub-part of the module name. In case more tags need to be rendered than the total number of characters in the module name, the remaining tags are graphically rendered over the tag name instead of over the module name.

When the JSON output mode is enabled (with --json), tags are reported by their name under the tags attribute. Tag abbreviation and color rendering do not apply on JSON output.

Module tags cannot be used in search query to designate a modulefile.

New in version 4.7.

Changed in version 5.1: Tag keep-loaded added

Sticky modules¶

Modules are said sticky when they cannot be unloaded (they stick to the loaded environment). Two kind of stickiness can be distinguished:

sticky module: cannot be unloaded unless if the unload is forced or if the module is reloaded after being unloaded
super-sticky module: cannot be unloaded unless if the module is reloaded after being unloaded; super-sticky modules cannot be unloaded even if the unload is forced.

Modules are designated sticky by associating them the sticky or the super-sticky module tag with the module-tag modulefile command.

When stickiness is defined over the generic module name (and not over a specific module version, a version list or a version range), sticky or super-sticky module can be swapped by another version of module. For instance if the sticky tag is defined over foo module, loaded module foo/1.2 can be swapped by foo/2.0. Such stickiness definition means one version of module should stay loaded whatever version it is.

New in version 4.7.

Module variants¶

Module variants are alternative evaluation of the same modulefile. A variant is specified by associating a value to its name when designating module. Variant specification relies on the Advanced module version specifiers mechanism.

Once specified, variant's value is transmitted to the evaluating modulefile which instantiates the variant in the ModuleVariant array variable when reaching the variant modulefile command declaring this variant. For instance the module load foo/1.2 bar=value1 command leads to the evaluation of foo/1.2 modulefile with bar=value1 variant specification. When reaching the variant bar value1 value2 value3 command in modulefile during its evaluation, the ModuleVariant(bar) array element is set to the value1 string.

Once variants are instantiated, modulefile's code could check the variant values to adapt the evaluation and define for instance different module requirements or produce different environment variable setup.

Variants are interpreted in contexts where modulefiles are evaluated. Thus the variants specified on module designation are ignored by the avail, whatis, is-avail, path or paths sub-commands.

When modulefile is evaluated a value should be specified for each variant this modulefile declares. When reaching the variant modulefile command declaring a variant, an error is raised if no value is specified for this variant and if no default value is declared. Specified variant value should match a value from the declared accepted value list if such list is defined otherwise an error is raised. Additionally if a variant is specified but does not correspond to a variant declared in modulefile, an error is raised.

Module variants are reported along the module they are associated to on list sub-command results. Variants are reported within curly braces next to module name, each variant definition separated from the others with a colon character (e.g., foo/1.2{variant1=value:+variant2}). Boolean variants are reported with the +name or -name syntaxes. When a shortcut character is defined for a variant (see MODULES_VARIANT_SHORTCUT) it is reported with the <shortcut>value syntax. For instance if % character is defined as a shortcut for variant1: foo/1.2{%value:+variant2}.

When the JSON output mode is enabled (with --json), variants are reported under the variants JSON object as name/value pairs. Values of Boolean variant are set as JSON Boolean. Other values are set as JSON strings. Variant shortcut and color rendering do not apply on JSON output.

New in version 4.8.

Collections¶

Collections describe a sequence of module use then module load commands that are interpreted by modulecmd.tcl to set the user environment as described by this sequence. When a collection is activated, with the restore sub-command, module paths and loaded modules are unused or unloaded if they are not part or if they are not ordered the same way as in the collection.

Collections are generated by the save sub-command that dumps the current user environment state in terms of module paths and loaded modules. By default collections are saved under the $HOME/.module directory.

Collections may be valid for a given target if they are suffixed. In this case these collections can only be restored if their suffix correspond to the current value of the MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET environment variable (see the dedicated section of this topic below).

New in version 4.0.

EXIT STATUS¶

The module command exits with 0 if its execution succeed. Otherwise 1 is returned.

ENVIRONMENT¶

__MODULES_AUTOINIT_INPROGRESS¶

If set to 1, the autoinit sub-command process is skipped.

This environment variable is set to 1 by the autoinit sub-command after checking it is not set. It ensures no nested initialization of Modules occur. At the end of the processing of the autoinit sub-command, __MODULES_AUTOINIT_INPROGRESS is unset.

New in version 5.0.

__MODULES_LMALTNAME¶

A colon separated list of the alternative names set through module-version and module-alias statements corresponding to all loaded modulefiles. Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile followed by all alternative names resolving to it. The loaded modulefile and its alternative names are separated by the ampersand character.

Each alternative name stored in __MODULES_LMALTNAME is prefixed by the al| string if it corresponds to a module alias or prefixed by the as| string if it corresponds to an automatic version symbol. These prefixes help to distinguish the different kind of alternative name.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the alternative names matching loaded modulefiles in order to keep environment consistent when conflicts or pre-requirements are set over these alternative designations. It also helps to find a match after modulefiles being loaded when unload, is-loaded or info-loaded actions are run over these names.

Starting version 4.7 of Modules, __MODULES_LMALTNAME is also used on list sub-command to report the symbolic versions associated with the loaded modules.

New in version 4.2.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMALTNAME to __MODULES_LMALTNAME

__MODULES_LMCONFLICT¶

A colon separated list of the conflict statements defined by all loaded modulefiles. Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile declaring the conflict followed by the name of all modulefiles it declares a conflict with. These loaded modulefiles and conflicting modulefile names are separated by the ampersand character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the conflicts declared by the loaded modulefiles in order to keep environment consistent when a conflicting module is asked for load afterward.

New in version 4.2.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMCONFLICT to __MODULES_LMCONFLICT

__MODULES_LMPREREQ¶

A colon separated list of the prereq statements defined by all loaded modulefiles. Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile declaring the pre-requirement followed by the name of all modulefiles it declares a prereq with. These loaded modulefiles and pre-required modulefile names are separated by the ampersand character. When a prereq statement is composed of multiple modulefiles, these modulefile names are separated by the pipe character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the pre-requirement declared by the loaded modulefiles in order to keep environment consistent when a pre-required module is asked for unload afterward.

New in version 4.2.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMPREREQ to __MODULES_LMPREREQ

__MODULES_LMSOURCESH¶

A colon separated list of the source-sh statements defined by all loaded modulefiles. Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile declaring the environment changes made by the evaluation of source-sh scripts. This name is followed by each source-sh statement call and corresponding result achieved in modulefile. The loaded modulefile name and each source-sh statement description are separated by the ampersand character. The source-sh statement call and each resulting modulefile command (corresponding to the environment changes done by sourced script) are separated by the pipe character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the modulefile commands applied for each source-sh command when loading the modulefile. In order to reverse these modulefile commands when modulefile is unloaded to undo the environment changes.

New in version 4.6.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMSOURCESH to __MODULES_LMSOURCESH

__MODULES_LMEXTRATAG¶

A colon separated list of the tags corresponding to all loaded modulefiles that have been set through the --tag option. Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile followed by all explicitly set tags applying to it. The loaded modulefile and its tags are separated by the ampersand character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to distinguish from all tags those that have been specifically set with --tag option.

New in version 5.1.

__MODULES_LMTAG¶

A colon separated list of the tags corresponding to all loaded modulefiles that have been set through module-tag statements or from other modulefile statements like module-forbid (that may apply the nearly-forbidden tag in specific situation) (see Module tags section). Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile followed by all tags applying to it. The loaded modulefile and its tags are separated by the ampersand character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the tags applying to loaded modulefiles in order to report these tags on list sub-command output or to apply specific behavior when unloading modulefile.

New in version 4.7.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMTAG to __MODULES_LMTAG

__MODULES_LMVARIANT¶

A colon separated list of the variant instantiated through variant statements by all loaded modulefiles (see Module variants section). Each element in this list starts by the name of the loaded modulefile followed by all the variant definitions set during the load of this module. The loaded modulefile and each of its variant definition are separated by the ampersand character. Each variant definition starts with the variant name, followed by the variant value set, then a flag to know if variant is of the Boolean type and last element in this definition is a flag to know if the chosen value is the default one for this variant and if it has been automatically set or not. These four elements composing the variant definition are separated by the pipe character.

This environment variable is intended for module command internal use to get knowledge of the variant value defined by the loaded modulefiles in order to keep environment consistent when requirements are set over a specific variant value or just to report these variant values when listing loaded modules.

New in version 4.8.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from MODULES_LMVARIANT to __MODULES_LMVARIANT

__MODULES_PUSHENV_<VAR>¶

Stack of saved values for <VAR> environment variable. A colon-separated list containing pairs of elements. A pair is formed by a loaded module name followed by the value set to <VAR> in this module with pushenv command. An ampersand character separates the two parts of the pair.

First element in list corresponds to the lastly set value of <VAR>. If a value were set to <VAR> prior the first evaluated pushenv command, this value is associated to an empty module name to record it as a pair element in __MODULES_PUSHENV_<VAR>.

New in version 5.1.

__MODULES_QUAR_<VAR>¶: Value of environment variable <VAR> passed to modulecmd.tcl in order to restore <VAR> to this value once started.

New in version 4.1.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from <VAR>_modquar to __MODULES_QUAR_<VAR>

__MODULES_QUARANTINE_SET¶: If set to 1, restore the environment variables set on hold by the quarantine mechanism when starting modulecmd.tcl script. This variable is automatically defined by Modules shell initialization scripts or module shell function when they apply the quarantine mechanism. (see MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT).

New in version 5.0.

__MODULES_SHARE_<VAR>¶

Reference counter variable for path-like variable <VAR>. A colon separated list containing pairs of elements. A pair is formed by a path element followed its usage counter which represents the number of times this path has been enabled in variable <VAR>. A colon separates the two parts of the pair.

An element of a path-like variable is added to the reference counter variable as soon as it is added more than one time. When an element of a path-like variable is not found in the reference counter variable, it means this element has only be added once to the path-like variable.

When an empty string is added as an element in the path-like variable, it is added to the reference counter variable even if added only once to distinguish between an empty path-like variable and a path-like variable containing an empty string as single element.

New in version 4.0.

Changed in version 5.0: Variable renamed from <VAR>_modshare to __MODULES_SHARE_<VAR>

Changed in version 5.0: Elements are added to the reference counter variable only if added more than one time in the relative path-like variable

_LMFILES_¶

A colon separated list of the full pathname for all loaded modulefiles.

This environment variable is generated by module command and should not be modified externally.

LOADEDMODULES¶

A colon separated list of all loaded modulefiles.

This environment variable is generated by module command and should not be modified externally.

MODULECONTACT¶

Email address to contact in case any issue occurs during the interpretation of modulefiles.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the contact configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.0.

MODULEPATH¶

The path that the module command searches when looking for modulefiles. Typically, it is set to the main modulefiles directory, /usr/share/Modules/modulefiles, by the initialization script. MODULEPATH can be set using module use or by the module initialization script to search group or personal modulefile directories before or after the main modulefile directory.

Path elements registered in the MODULEPATH environment variable may contain reference to environment variables which are converted to their corresponding value by module command each time it looks at the MODULEPATH value. If an environment variable referred in a path element is not defined, its reference is converted to an empty string.

MODULERCFILE¶

The location of a global run-command file containing modulefile specific setup. See Modulecmd startup section for detailed information.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the rcfile configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

MODULES_ADVANCED_VERSION_SPEC¶

If set to 1, enable advanced module version specifiers (see Advanced module version specifiers section). If set to 0, disable advanced module version specifiers.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the advanced_version_spec configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.4.

MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING¶

If set to 1, enable automated module handling mode. If set to 0 disable automated module handling mode. Other values are ignored.

Automated module handling mode consists in additional actions triggered when loading or unloading a modulefile to satisfy the constraints it declares. When loading a modulefile, following actions are triggered:

Requirement Load: load of the modulefiles declared as a prereq of the loading modulefile.
Dependent Reload: reload of the modulefiles declaring a prereq onto loaded modulefile or declaring a prereq onto a modulefile part of this reloading batch.

When unloading a modulefile, following actions are triggered:

Dependent Unload: unload of the modulefiles declaring a non-optional prereq onto unloaded modulefile or declaring a non-optional prereq onto a modulefile part of this unloading batch. A prereq modulefile is considered optional if the prereq definition order is made of multiple modulefiles and at least one alternative modulefile is loaded.
Useless Requirement Unload: unload of the prereq modulefiles that have been automatically loaded for either the unloaded modulefile, an unloaded dependent modulefile or a modulefile part of this useless requirement unloading batch. Modulefiles are added to this unloading batch only if they are not required by any other loaded modulefiles and if they are not tagged keep-loaded.
Dependent Reload: reload of the modulefiles declaring a conflict or an optional prereq onto either the unloaded modulefile, an unloaded dependent or an unloaded useless requirement or declaring a prereq onto a modulefile part of this reloading batch.

In case a loaded modulefile has some of its declared constraints unsatisfied (pre-required modulefile not loaded or conflicting modulefile loaded for instance), this loaded modulefile is excluded from the automatic reload actions described above.

For the specific case of the switch sub-command, where a modulefile is unloaded to then load another modulefile. Dependent modulefiles to Unload are merged into the Dependent modulefiles to Reload that are reloaded after the load of the switched-to modulefile.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set on the auto_handling configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --auto and --no-auto command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.2.

Changed in version 5.1: Modules with keep-loaded tag set are excluded from Useless Requirement Unload mechanism

MODULES_AVAIL_INDEPTH¶

If set to 1, enable in depth search results for avail sub-command. If set to 0 disable avail sub-command in depth mode. Other values are ignored.

When in depth mode is enabled, modulefiles and directories contained in directories matching search query are also included in search results. When disabled these modulefiles and directories contained in matching directories are excluded.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the avail_indepth configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --indepth and --no-indepth command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_AVAIL_OUTPUT¶

A colon separated list of the elements to report in addition to module names on avail sub-command regular output mode.

Accepted elements that can be set in value list are:

alias: module aliases.
dirwsym: directories associated with symbolic versions.
key: legend appended at the end of the output to explain it.
modulepath: modulepath names set as header prior the list of available modules found in them.
sym: symbolic versions associated with available modules.
tag: tags associated with available modules.

The order of the elements in the list does not matter. Module names are the only content reported when LIST is set to an empty value.

In case the modulepath element is missing from value list, the available modules from global/user rc and all enabled modulepaths are reported as a single list.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the avail_output configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --output/-o command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_AVAIL_TERSE_OUTPUT¶

A colon separated list of the elements to report in addition to module names on avail sub-command terse output mode.

See MODULES_AVAIL_OUTPUT to get the accepted elements that can be set in value list.

The order of the elements in the list does not matter. Module names are the only content reported when LIST is set to an empty value.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the avail_terse_output configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --output/-o command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_CMD¶

The location of the active module command script.

This environment variable is generated by module command and should not be modified externally.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_VERSION¶

If set to 1, register exact version number of modulefiles when saving a collection. Otherwise modulefile version number is omitted if it corresponds to the explicitly set default version and also to the implicit default when the configuration option implicit_default is enabled.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the collection_pin_version configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_COLLECTION_PIN_TAG¶

If set to 1, register all tags applying to modulefiles when saving a collection. Otherwise only the extra tags set through the --tag option and tags resulting from specific module states (like auto-loaded and keep-loaded tags) are recorded in collection. Note that the nearly-forbidden tag due to its temporal meaning is not saved in collection even when this configuration option is enabled.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the collection_pin_tag configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 5.1.

MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET¶

The collection target that determines what collections are valid thus reachable on the current system.

Collection directory may sometimes be shared on multiple machines which may use different modules setup. For instance modules users may access with the same HOME directory multiple systems using different OS versions. When it happens a collection made on machine 1 may be erroneous on machine 2.

When a target is set, only the collections made for that target are available to the restore, savelist, saveshow and saverm sub-commands. Saving a collection registers the target footprint by suffixing the collection filename with .$MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET. The collection target is not involved when collection is specified as file path on the saveshow, restore and save sub-commands.

For example, the MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET variable may be set with results from commands like lsb_release, hostname, dnsdomainname, etc.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the collection_target configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.0.

MODULES_COLOR¶

Defines if output should be colored or not. Accepted values are never, auto and always.

When color mode is set to auto, output is colored only if the standard error output channel is attached to a terminal.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the color configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --color command line switch overrides this environment variable.

NO_COLOR, CLICOLOR and CLICOLOR_FORCE environment variables are also honored to define color mode. The never mode is set if NO_COLOR is defined (regardless of its value) or if CLICOLOR equals to 0. If CLICOLOR is set to another value, it corresponds to the auto mode. The always mode is set if CLICOLOR_FORCE is set to a value different than 0. NO_COLOR variable prevails over CLICOLOR and CLICOLOR_FORCE. Color mode set with these three variables is superseded by mode set with MODULES_COLOR environment variable or with --color command line switch..

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_COLORS¶

Specifies the colors and other attributes used to highlight various parts of the output. Its value is a colon-separated list of output items associated to a Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) code. It follows the same syntax than LS_COLORS.

Output items are designated by keys. Items able to be colorized are: highlighted element (hi), debug information (db), trace information (tr), tag separator (se); Error (er), warning (wa), module error (me) and info (in) message prefixes; Modulepath (mp), directory (di), module alias (al), module variant (va), module symbolic version (sy), module default version (de) and modulefile command (cm).

Module tags can also be colorized. The key to set in the color palette to get a graphical rendering of a tag is the tag name or the tag abbreviation if one is defined for tag. The SGR code applied to a tag name is ignored if an abbreviation is set for this tag thus the SGR code should be defined for this abbreviation to get a graphical rendering. Each basic tag has by default a key set in the color palette, based on its abbreviated string: auto-loaded (aL), forbidden (F), hidden and hidden-loaded (H), loaded (L), nearly-forbidden (nF), sticky (S), super-sticky (sS) and keep-loaded (kL).

See the Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) section in the documentation of the text terminal that is used for permitted values and their meaning as character attributes. These substring values are integers in decimal representation and can be concatenated with semicolons. Modules takes care of assembling the result into a complete SGR sequence (\33[...m). Common values to concatenate include 1 for bold, 4 for underline, 30 to 37 for foreground colors and 90 to 97 for 16-color mode foreground colors. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR_(Select_Graphic_Rendition)_parameters for a complete SGR code reference.

No graphical rendition will be applied to an output item that could normally be colored but which is not defined in the color set. Thus if MODULES_COLORS is defined empty, no output will be colored at all.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the colors configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.3.

Changed in version 4.6: Output item for trace information (tr) added

Changed in version 4.7: Output items for module tags auto-loaded (aL), forbidden (F), hidden and hidden-loaded (H), loaded (L), nearly-forbidden (nF), sticky (S) and super-sticky (sS) added

Changed in version 4.8: Output item for module variant (va) added

Changed in version 5.1: Output item for keep-loaded module tag (kL) added

MODULES_EDITOR¶

Text editor command name or path for use to open modulefile through the edit sub-command.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the editor configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

Text editor could also be defined through the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables. These environment variables are overridden by MODULES_EDITOR.

New in version 4.8.

MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT¶

If set to 1, a specified module version is matched against starting portion of existing module versions, where portion is a substring separated from the rest of the version string by a . character. For example specified modules mod/1 and mod/1.2 will match existing modulefile mod/1.2.3.

In case multiple modulefiles match the specified module version and a single module has to be selected, the explicitly set default version is returned if it is part of matching modulefiles. Otherwise the implicit default among matching modulefiles is returned if defined (see MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT section)

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the extended_default configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.4.

MODULES_FAMILY_<NAME>¶

Module name minus version that provides for the name family in currently loaded environment. This environment variable is defined through the use of the family modulefile command.

For instance if loading modulefile foo/1.0 defines being member of the bar family, the MODULES_FAMILY_BAR will be set to the foo value.

This environment variable is generated by module command and should not be modified externally.

New in version 5.1.

MODULES_ICASE¶

When module specification are passed as argument to module sub-commands or modulefile Tcl commands, defines the case sensitiveness to apply to match them. When MODULES_ICASE is set to never, a case sensitive match is applied in any cases. When set to search, a case insensitive match is applied to the avail, list, whatis and paths sub-commands. When set to always, a case insensitive match is also applied to the other module sub-commands and modulefile Tcl commands for the module specification they receive as argument.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the icase configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --icase/-i command line switches, which correspond to the always mode, override this environment variable.

New in version 4.4.

Changed in version 5.1: Search mode applied to list sub-command

MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT¶

Defines (if set to 1) or not (if set to 0) an implicit default version for modules without a default version explicitly defined (see Locating Modulefiles section in the modulefile man page).

Without either an explicit or implicit default version defined a module must be fully qualified (version should be specified in addition to its name) to get:

targeted by module load, switch, display, help, test and path sub-commands.
restored from a collection, unless already loaded in collection-specified order.
automatically loaded by automated module handling mechanisms (see MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING section) when declared as module requirement, with prereq or module load modulefile commands.

An error is returned in the above situations if either no explicit or implicit default version is defined.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the implicit_default configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. This environment variable is ignored if implicit_default has been declared locked in locked_configs configuration option.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_IMPLICIT_REQUIREMENT¶

Defines (if set to 1) or not (if set to 0) an implicit prereq or conflict requirement onto modules specified respectively on module load or module unload commands in modulefile. When enabled an implicit conflict requirement onto switched-off module and a prereq requirement onto switched-on module are also defined for module switch commands used in modulefile.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the implicit_requirement configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --not-req option, applied to a module command in a modulefile, overrides this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_LIST_OUTPUT¶

A colon separated list of the elements to report in addition to module names on list sub-command regular output mode.

Accepted elements that can be set in value list are:

header: sentence to introduce the list of loaded modules or to state that no modules are loaded currently.
idx: index position of each loaded module.
key: legend appended at the end of the output to explain it.
variant: variant values selected for loaded modules.
sym: symbolic versions associated with loaded modules.
tag: tags associated with loaded modules.

The order of the elements in the list does not matter. Module names are the only content reported when LIST is set to an empty value.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the list_output configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --output/-o command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

Changed in version 4.8: Element variant added

MODULES_LIST_TERSE_OUTPUT¶

A colon separated list of the elements to report in addition to module names on list sub-command terse output mode.

See MODULES_LIST_OUTPUT to get the accepted elements that can be set in value list.

The order of the elements in the list does not matter. Module names are the only content reported when LIST is set to an empty value.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the list_terse_output configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --output/-o command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_MCOOKIE_CHECK¶

If set to eval, the Modules magic cookie (i.e., #%Module file signature) is only checked to determine if a file is a modulefile when evaluating these files. If set to always, the Modules magic cookie is also checked when searching for modules.

The eval mode is made to significantly reduce file checks when walking through modulepaths to search for modulefiles. Special care should be given to the content of modulepaths when this eval mode is set as the following kind of files are included in search results:

modulefiles with a magic cookie requiring a higher version of modulecmd.tcl
files not beginning with the magic cookie #%Module
read-protected files

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the mcookie_check configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 5.1.

MODULES_MCOOKIE_VERSION_CHECK¶

If set to 1, the version set in the Modules magic cookie in modulefile is checked against the current version of modulecmd.tcl to determine if the modulefile can be evaluated.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the mcookie_version_check configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_ML¶

If set to 1, define ml command when initializing Modules (see Package Initialization section). If set to 0, ml command is not defined.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the ml configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

To enable or disable ml command, MODULES_ML should be set prior Modules initialization or the ml configuration option should be set in the initrc configuration file.

New in version 4.5.

MODULES_NEARLY_FORBIDDEN_DAYS¶

Number of days a module is considered nearly forbidden prior reaching its expiry date set by module-forbid modulefile command. When a nearly forbidden module is evaluated a warning message is issued to inform module will soon be forbidden. If set to 0, modules will never be considered nearly forbidden. Accepted values are integers comprised between 0 and 365.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the nearly_forbidden_days configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.6.

MODULES_PAGER¶

Text viewer for use to paginate message output if error output stream is attached to a terminal. The value of this variable is composed of a pager command name or path eventually followed by command-line options.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the pager configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

If MODULES_PAGER variable is set to an empty string or to the value cat, pager will not be launched.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT¶

If set to 1, produces the shell code for quarantine mechanism when the autoinit sub-command generates the module shell function.

The generated shell code for quarantine mechanism indirectly passes the environment variable defined in MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE to the modulecmd.tcl script to protect its run-time environment from side-effect coming from the current definition of these variables.

To enable quarantine support, MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT should be set to 1 prior Modules initialization or the quarantine_support configuration should be set to 1 in the initrc configuration file.

Generated code for quarantine mechanism sets the __MODULES_QUARANTINE_SET environment variable when calling the modulecmd.tcl script to make it restore the environment variable put in quarantine.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the quarantine_support configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 5.0.

MODULES_REDIRECT_OUTPUT¶

If set to 0, the output generated by module command is kept on stderr and not redirected to stdout channel.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the redirect_output configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --redirect and --no-redirect command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 5.1.

MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE¶

A space separated list of environment variable names that should be passed indirectly to modulecmd.tcl to protect its run-time environment from side-effect coming from their current definition.

If the quarantine mechanism has been included in module shell function (see MODULES_QUARANTINE_SUPPORT), each variable found in MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE will have its value emptied or set to the value of the corresponding MODULES_RUNENV_<VAR> variable when defining modulecmd.tcl run-time environment.

Original values of these environment variables set in quarantine are passed to modulecmd.tcl via __MODULES_QUAR_<VAR> variables.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the run_quarantine configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_RUNENV_<VAR>¶: Value to set to environment variable <VAR> for modulecmd.tcl run-time execution if <VAR> is referred in MODULES_RUN_QUARANTINE.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_SEARCH_MATCH¶

When searching for modules with avail sub-command, defines the way query string should match against available module names. With starts_with value, returned modules are those whose name begins by search query string. When set to contains, any modules whose fully qualified name contains search query string are returned.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the search_match configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --starts-with and --contains command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_SET_SHELL_STARTUP¶

If set to 1, defines when module command initializes the shell startup file to ensure that the module command is still defined in sub-shells. Setting shell startup file means defining the ENV and BASH_ENV environment variable to the Modules bourne shell initialization script. If set to 0, shell startup file is not defined.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the set_shell_startup configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

To enable shell startup file, MODULES_SET_SHELL_STARTUP should be set to 1 prior Modules initialization or the set_shell_startup configuration option should be set to 1 in the initrc configuration file.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_SHELLS_WITH_KSH_FPATH¶

A list of shell on which the FPATH environment variable should be defined at initialization time to point to the ksh-functions directory where the ksh initialization script for module command is located. It enables for the listed shells to get module function defined when starting ksh as sub-shell from there.

Accepted values are a list of shell among sh, bash, csh, tcsh and fish separated by colon character (:).

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the shells_with_ksh_fpath configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

To enable the setup of FPATH for some shells, MODULES_SHELLS_WITH_KSH_FPATH should be set to the list of these shells prior Modules initialization or the shells_with_ksh_fpath configuration option should be set to the list of these shells in the initrc configuration file.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_SILENT_SHELL_DEBUG¶

If set to 1, disable any xtrace or verbose debugging property set on current shell session for the duration of either the module command or the module shell initialization script. Only applies to Bourne Shell (sh) and its derivatives.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the silent_shell_debug configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

To generate the code to silence shell debugging property in the module shell function, MODULES_SILENT_SHELL_DEBUG should be set to 1 prior Modules initialization or the silent_shell_debug configuration option should be set to 1 in the initrc configuration file.

New in version 4.1.

MODULES_SITECONFIG¶

Location of a site-specific configuration script to source into modulecmd.tcl. See also Modulecmd startup section.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the extra_siteconfig configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. This environment variable is ignored if extra_siteconfig has been declared locked in locked_configs configuration option.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_TAG_ABBREV¶

Specifies the abbreviation strings used to report module tags (see Module tags section). Its value is a colon-separated list of module tag names associated to an abbreviation string (e.g. tagname=abbrev).

If a tag is associated to an empty string abbreviation, this tag will not be reported. In case the whole MODULES_TAG_ABBREV environment variable is set to an empty string, tags are reported but not abbreviated.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the tag_abbrev configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME¶

Specifies the tag names or abbreviations whose graphical rendering should be applied over themselves instead of being applied over the name of the module they are attached to. Value of MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME is a colon-separated list of module tag names or abbreviation strings (see Module tags section).

When a select graphic rendition is defined for a tag name or a tag abbreviation string, it is applied over the module name associated with the tag and tag name or abbreviation is not displayed. When listed in MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME environment variable, a tag name or abbreviation is displayed and select graphic rendition is applied over it.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the tag_color_name configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_TERM_BACKGROUND¶

Inform Modules of the terminal background color to determine if the color set for dark background or the color set for light background should be used to color output in case no specific color set is defined with the MODULES_COLORS variable. Accepted values are dark and light.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the term_background configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_TERM_WIDTH¶

Specifies the number of columns of the output. If set to 0, the output width will be the full terminal width, which is automatically detected by the module command. Accepted values are integers comprised between 0 and 1000.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the term_width configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --width/-w command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.7.

MODULES_UNLOAD_MATCH_ORDER¶

When a module unload request matches multiple loaded modules, unload firstly loaded module or lastly loaded module. Accepted values are returnfirst and returnlast.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the unload_match_order configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.3.

MODULES_VARIANT_SHORTCUT¶

Specifies the shortcut characters that could be used to specify and report module variants (see Module variants section). Its value is a colon-separated list of variant names associated to a shortcut character (e.g., variantname=shortcutchar).

A variant shortcut must be of one character length and must avoid characters used for other concerns or in module names (i.e., [-+~/@=a-zA-Z0-9]).

If a shortcut is associated to an empty string or an invalid character, this shortcut definition will be ignored.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the variant_shortcut configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

New in version 4.8.

MODULES_VERBOSITY¶

Defines the verbosity level of the module command. Available verbosity levels from the least to the most verbose are:

silent: turn off error, warning and informational messages but does not affect module command output result.
concise: enable error and warning messages but disable informational messages.
normal: turn on informational messages, like a report of the additional module evaluations triggered by loading or unloading modules, aborted evaluation issues or a report of each module evaluation occurring during a restore or source sub-commands.
verbose: add additional informational messages, like a systematic report of the loading or unloading module evaluations.
verbose2: report loading or unloading module evaluations of hidden-loaded modules, report if loading module is already loaded or if unloading module is not loaded.
trace: provide details on module searches, resolutions, selections and evaluations.
debug: print debugging messages about module command execution.
debug2: report modulecmd.tcl procedure calls in addition to printing debug messages.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the verbosity configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command. The --silent, --verbose, --debug and --trace command line switches override this environment variable.

New in version 4.3.

Changed in version 4.6: Verbosity levels trace and debug2 added

Changed in version 4.7: Verbosity level verbose2 added

MODULES_WA_277¶

If set to 1 prior to Modules package initialization, enables workaround for Tcsh history issue (see https://github.com/cea-hpc/modules/issues/277). This issue leads to erroneous history entries under Tcsh shell. When workaround is enabled, an alternative module alias is defined which fixes the history mechanism issue. However the alternative definition of the module alias weakens shell evaluation of the code produced by modulefiles. Characters with a special meaning for Tcsh shell (like { and }) may not be used anymore in shell alias definition otherwise the evaluation of the code produced by modulefiles will return a syntax error.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the wa_277 configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

To enable this workaround, MODULES_WA_277 should be set to 1 prior Modules initialization or the wa_277 configuration option should be set to 1 in the initrc configuration file.

New in version 4.3.

MODULESHOME¶

The location of the main Modules package file directory containing module command initialization scripts, the executable program modulecmd.tcl, and a directory containing a collection of main modulefiles.

This environment variable value supersedes the default value set in the home configuration option. It can be defined with the config sub-command.

FILES¶

/usr/share/Modules

The MODULESHOME directory.

/etc/environment-modules/initrc

The configuration file evaluated by modulecmd.tcl when it initializes to enable the default modulepaths, load the default modules and set module command configuration.

initrc is a modulefile so it is written as a Tcl script and defines modulepaths to enable with module use, modules to load with module load and configuration to apply with module config. As any modulefile initrc must begin with the Modules magic cookie (i.e., #%Module file signature).

initrc is optional. When this configuration file is present it is evaluated after the modulespath configuration file. See the Package Initialization section for details.

/etc/environment-modules/modulespath

The configuration file evaluated by modulecmd.tcl when it initializes to enable the default modulepaths. This file contains the list of modulepaths separated by either newline or colon characters.

modulespath is optional. When this configuration file is present it is evaluated before the initrc configuration file. See the Package Initialization section for details.

/etc/environment-modules/siteconfig.tcl

The site-specific configuration script of modulecmd.tcl. An additional configuration script could be defined using the MODULES_SITECONFIG environment variable.

/etc/environment-modules/rc

The system-wide modules rc file. The location of this file can be changed using the MODULERCFILE environment variable as described above.

$HOME/.modulerc

The user specific modules rc file.

$HOME/.module

The user specific collection directory.

/usr/share/Modules/modulefiles

The directory for system-wide modulefiles. The location of the directory can be changed using the MODULEPATH environment variable as described above.

/usr/share/Modules/libexec/modulecmd.tcl

The modulefile interpreter that gets executed upon each invocation of module.

/usr/share/Modules/init/<shell>

The Modules package initialization file sourced into the user's environment.

module¶

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

Package Initialization¶

Examples of initialization¶

Modulecmd startup¶

Command line switches¶

Module Sub-Commands¶

Modulefiles¶

Advanced module version specifiers¶

Version specifiers¶

Variants¶

Module tags¶

Sticky modules¶

Module variants¶

Collections¶

EXIT STATUS¶

ENVIRONMENT¶

FILES¶

SEE ALSO¶