title: UNIX, get environment variable
body: <p>I have a ridiculous question due to a ridiculous problem. </p>
  
  <p>Normally if I want to get the contents of an environment variable in UNIX shell, I can do</p>
  
  <pre><code>echo ${VAR}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Let's assume, due to my ridiculous situation, that this isn't possible. </p>
  
  <p>How do I get the contents of an environment variable to stdout, without someone who is looking at the command itself (not the output), see the value of the environment variable.</p>
  
  <p>I can picture the solution being something like <code>echo env(NAME_OF_VAR)</code> although I can't seem to find it. The solution has to work in sh.</p>
  
  <p>PS I can't write a script for this, it must be a built in unix command (i know, ridiculous problem)</p>
  
  <p>Thanks (and sorry for the absurdity)</p>