I'm running a perl script through SSH, in the perl script I query environment variables using $ENV{MY_VAR_NAME} and it works fine when run locally. But through SSH, all environment variables become unset. I also tried to run system("source ~/.bash_profile"); at the beginning of my script to no avail. Any tips? EDIT: Rephrasing my question. I have machine A and B. I ran my perl on machine B, trying to get the environment variables on B and it worked. Then I ssh from A to B running the same script, i.e., using this code ssh user@B perl myscript.pl This time the environment variables on B are all blank. Any tips? UPDATE: I found that running the above script, ~/.bashrc on Machine B was invoked, but after setting environment variables in ~/.bashrc, run the above command again and still I don't see any environment variables. Also, if my perl script contains only echo $ENV{PATH} Then I get /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin