title: Is it possible to access environment variables without the '$' in bash?
body: <p>This may seem pretty trivial but I am a novice in bash scripting and I could not find the answer elsewhere.</p>
  
  <p>I have <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MPlayer" rel="nofollow">mplayer</a> installed on ubuntu 13.04 and I am using it to stream internet radio stations. Normally you need to provide the ip as argument for that:</p>
  
  <pre><code>mplayer http://176.31.113.37:8080
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have created an aliases file in root <code>.bash_aliases</code> where I have the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>export SOMA="http://173.239.76.147:8090"
  export FRESH="http://176.31.113.37:8080"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now I can play the radio using only the station name: <code>mplayer $FRESH</code>.
  I was wondering is it possible to get rid of the <code>$</code> sign also to use the command <code>mplayer FRESH</code> for example.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>