TIL: Using `sudo -E` to Preserve Environment Variables in Bash

Somewhere last year, I learned about the sudo -E command in bash, which allows you to run a command with root privileges while preserving the user’s environment variables. This can be extremely useful when you want to open a file with elevated permissions but still retain your user-specific settings and environment.

Example:

Imagine you want to open a Neovim configuration file that requires administrative access, and you want to make sure that all your environment variables are still accessible. Here’s how you can do that:

sudo -E nvim /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf
# This will open the configuration files in Neovim with sudo permissions
# while keeping your current environment variables intact.

This way, you don’t lose your customized settings and environment preferences when running commands that require elevated permissions. The sudo -E command is a valuable tool for maintaining consistency and ease of use when working with system-level files and configurations!