what does export do?

[THUFIR HAWAT]

On 5/20/05, Matthew Miller <mattdm at mattdm.org> wrote:
...
> > No files are affected by the command. All it does is mark a 
> > shell variable as being an environment variable that is passed 
> > on to any subsequent commands you execute *from that shell*.
...

"Every programming language has the ability to access its environment
and to set or unset its variables. The environment is copied to all
child processes through crt0.o which is linked into every executable."
-Steven Orr

I'm looking at "export" within the context trying to find out where
environment variables are stored.  In windows it's possible to bring
up all the environment variables; I assume the same can be done with
linux.  my question should've been:  where do I find the environment
variables?

thanks,

Thufir