apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: time-config data: TIME_FREQ: "6" --- apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: time-check spec: containers: - name: time-check image: busybox:latest command: ["/bin/sh"] args: ["-c","while true; do date; sleep $TIME_FREQ;done >> /opt/data/time/time-check.log"] env: - name: TIME_FREQ valueFrom: configMapKeyRef: name: time-config key: TIME_FREQ volumeMounts: - name: log-volume mountPath: /opt/data/time volumes: - name: log-volume emptyDir: {} According to [documentation][1], to use variable you should put it in parentheses, however, that gives me: TIME_FREQ: command not found sleep: missing operand If I use only $TIME_FREQ, the variable does not expand at all and `sleep` only complains about missing operand. I've tried curly braces, but didn't work, too. [1]: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/inject-data-application/define-command-argument-container/#use-environment-variables-to-define-arguments If I set the variable locally, the config will accept it and the command runs ok, with variable defined as $TIME_FREQ. Why does it not work?