When I open a terminal and type set I get a strange output

Question

I opened a terminal on the desktop in Xubuntu and typed set and then a new line. I aws expecting to see a display of my environmental variables, but all I got was a display of a lot of code. What on earth is going on?

Here's a bit of that code

pactl () 
{ 
    local cur prev words cword preprev command;
    local comps;
    local flags='-h --help --version -s --server= --client-name=';
    local list_types='short sinks sources sink-inputs source outputs cards
                    modules samples clients';
    local commands=(stat info list exit upload-sample play-sample remove-sample load-module unload-module move-sink-input move-source-output suspend-sink suspend-source set-card-profile set-sink-port set-source-port set-sink-volume set-source-volume set-sink-input-volume set-source-output-volume set-sink-mute set-source-mute set-sink-input-mute set-source-output-mute set-sink-formats set-port-latency-offset subscribe help);
_init_completion -n = || return;
preprev=${words[$cword-2]};
for word in "${COMP_WORDS[@]}";
do
    if in_array "$word" "${commands[@]}"; then
        command=$word;
        break;
    fi;
done;
case $preprev in 
    list)
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W 'short' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    play-sample)
        comps=$(__sinks);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    move-sink-input)
        comps=$(__sinks);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    move-source-output)
        comps=$(__sources);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-card-profile)
        comps=$(__profiles);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-*-port)
        comps=$(__ports);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-*-mute)
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W 'true false toggle' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-sink-formats)

    ;;
    set-port-*)
        comps=$(__ports);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    --server)
        compopt +o nospace;
        _known_hosts_real "$cur"
    ;;
esac;
[[ -n $COMPREPLY ]] && return 0;
case $prev in 
    list)
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${list_types[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    stat)
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W 'short' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    upload-sample)
        _filedir
    ;;
    play-sample)

    ;;
    remove-sample)

    ;;
    load-module)
        comps=$(__all_modules);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    unload-module)
        comps=$(__loaded_modules);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-card*)
        comps=$(__cards);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    *sink-input*)
        comps=$(__sink_inputs);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    *source-output*)
        comps=$(__source_outputs);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-sink-formats)
        comps=$(__sinks_idx);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    *sink*)
        comps=$(__sinks);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    *source*)
        comps=$(__sources);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    set-port*)
        comps=$(__cards);
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${comps[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
    -s)
        _known_hosts_real "$cur"
    ;;
esac;
[[ -n $COMPREPLY ]] && return 0;
case $cur in 
    --server=*)
        cur=${cur#*=};
        _known_hosts_real "$cur"
    ;;
    -*)
        COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${flags[*]}' -- "$cur"));
        [[ $COMPREPLY == *= ]] && compopt -o nospace
    ;;
    *)
        [[ -z $command ]] && COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${commands[*]}' -- "$cur"))
    ;;
esac
}

Answer 1

What you are seeing are the functions defined in your shell, which is very similar to the variables, and also part of your environment.

Actually the environment variables were listed too - they came first, and scrolled out of the screen.

Try this command to be able to scroll up and down in the whole result:

set | less

You can also search with / and ?.

(I assume the shell bash here - details like the order of printing may be different in other shells.)