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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center

$OperatingSystem

is a string giving the type of operating system under which the Wolfram System is being run.

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$OperatingSystem

$OperatingSystem

is a string giving the type of operating system under which the Wolfram System is being run.

Details

  • Typical values for $OperatingSystem are "Windows", "MacOSX", and "Unix".
  • You can use $OperatingSystem to get an idea of what external commands will be available from within the Wolfram System.
  • $OperatingSystem typically has the same value for different versions or variants of a particular operating system.

Examples

Basic Examples  (1)

Programmatically determine the host operating system:

Wolfram Language code: $OperatingSystem
Wolfram Research (1991), $OperatingSystem, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (1991), $OperatingSystem, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1991. "$OperatingSystem." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1991). $OperatingSystem. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_$operatingsystem, author="Wolfram Research", title="{$OperatingSystem}", year="1991", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html}", note=[Accessed: 06-October-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_$operatingsystem, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={$OperatingSystem}, year={1991}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$OperatingSystem.html}, note=[Accessed: 06-October-2026]}