Which symbol is used to set an environment variable in the terminal?

In a Linux terminal, the dollar sign is used as a prefix to refer to environment variables but is not the symbol used to set them. To set an environment variable, you typically use the assignment statement without any symbol in front of it, and it is done in a straightforward manner by using the format VARIABLE_NAME=value.

However, when you reference the environment variable after it has been set, you would use the dollar sign before the variable name to access its value. For example, if you set a variable like MYVAR=hello, you can retrieve its value by executing echo $MYVAR, which would output "hello".

The other symbols provided in the choices do not serve this function in the context of setting environment variables. The at symbol, asterisk, and exclamation mark do not have standard roles in environment variable management in the terminal context. Thus, recognizing how the dollar sign interacts with environment variables is essential for working with them effectively in a Linux environment.