diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index eeca37f..79da0ee 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -2,12 +2,24 @@
 -- incorporate with https://github.com/tredoe/osutil ?
 -- cli flag to dump flat hashes too
 --- https://github.com/hlandau/passlib
+-- incoprporated separately; https://git.r00t2.io/r00t2/PWGen (import r00t2.io/pwgen)
 
 - unit tests
 
 - constants/vars for errors
 
 - func and struct to return segregated system-level env vars vs. user env vars (mostly usable on windows) (see envs/.TODO.go.UNFINISHED)
+-- https://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/ehchua/programming/howto/Environment_Variables.html
+-- windows:
+--- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/usmt/usmt-recognized-environment-variables
+--- https://pureinfotech.com/list-environment-variables-windows-10/
+--- https://gist.github.com/RebeccaWhit3/5dad8627b8227142e1bea432db3f8824
+--- https://ss64.com/nt/syntax-variables.html
+-- linux/XDG:
+--- https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap08.html
+--- https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
+-- macOS:
+--- https://ss64.com/osx/syntax-env_vars.html
 
 - validator for windows usernames, domains, etc. (for *NIX, https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/435120/284004)
 -- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/identity/naming-conventions-for-computer-domain-site-ou
diff --git a/envs/funcs.go b/envs/funcs.go
index 3bc32de..8bdeb58 100644
--- a/envs/funcs.go
+++ b/envs/funcs.go
@@ -61,6 +61,59 @@ func GetEnvMapNative() (envMap map[string]interface{}) {
 	return
 }
 
+/*
+	GetFirst gets the first instance if populated/set occurrence of varNames.
+
+	For example, if you have three potential env vars, FOO, FOOBAR, FOOBARBAZ,
+	and want to follow the logic flow of:
+
+		1.) Check if FOO is set. If not,
+		2.) Check if FOOBAR is set. If not,
+		3.) Check if FOOBARBAZ is set.
+
+	Then this would be specified as:
+
+		GetFirst([]string{"FOO", "FOOBAR", "FOOBARBAZ"})
+
+	If val is "" and ok is true, this means that one of the specified variable names IS
+	set but is set to an empty value. If ok is false, none of the specified variables
+	are set.
+
+	It is a thin wrapper around GetFirstWithRef.
+*/
+func GetFirst(varNames []string) (val string, ok bool) {
+
+	val, ok, _ = GetFirstWithRef(varNames)
+
+	return
+}
+
+/*
+	GetFirstWithRef behaves exactly like GetFirst, but with an additional returned value, idx,
+	which specifies the index in varNames in which a set variable was found. e.g. if:
+
+		GetFirstWithRef([]string{"FOO", "FOOBAR", "FOOBAZ"})
+
+	is called and FOO is not set but FOOBAR is, idx will be 1.
+
+	If ok is false, idx will always be -1 and should be ignored.
+*/
+func GetFirstWithRef(varNames []string) (val string, ok bool, idx int) {
+
+	idx = -1
+
+	for i, vn := range varNames {
+		if HasEnv(vn) {
+			ok = true
+			idx = i
+			val = os.Getenv(vn)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
 /*
 	GetPidEnvMap will only work on *NIX-like systems with procfs.
 	It gets the environment variables of a given process' PID.
diff --git a/paths/funcs.go b/paths/funcs.go
index 57f4444..3857cf9 100644
--- a/paths/funcs.go
+++ b/paths/funcs.go
@@ -82,10 +82,81 @@ func ExpandHome(path *string) (err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+/*
+	GetFirst is the file equivalent of envs.GetFirst.
+
+	It iterates through paths, normalizing them along the way
+	(so abstracted paths such as ~/foo/bar.txt and relative paths
+	such as bar/baz.txt will still work), and returns the content
+	of the first found existing file. If the first found path
+	is a directory, content will be nil but isDir will be true
+	(as will ok).
+
+	If no path exists, ok will be false.
+
+	As always, results are not guaranteed due to permissions, etc.
+	potentially returning an inaccurate result.
+
+	This is a thin wrapper around GetFirstWithRef.
+*/
+func GetFirst(paths []string) (content []byte, isDir, ok bool) {
+
+	content, isDir, ok, _ = GetFirstWithRef(paths)
+
+	return
+}
+
+/*
+	GetFirstWithRef is the file equivalent of envs.GetFirstWithRef.
+
+	It behaves exactly like GetFirst, but with an additional returned value, idx,
+	which specifies the index in paths in which a path was found.
+
+	As always, results are not guaranteed due to permissions, etc.
+	potentially returning an inaccurate result.
+*/
+func GetFirstWithRef(paths []string) (content []byte, isDir, ok bool, idx int) {
+
+	var locPaths []string
+	var exists bool
+	var stat os.FileInfo
+	var err error
+
+	idx = -1
+	// We have to be a little less cavalier about this.
+	if paths == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	locPaths = make([]string, len(paths))
+	locPaths = paths[:] // Create an explicit copy so we don't modify paths.
+	for i, p := range locPaths {
+		if exists, stat, err = RealPathExistsStat(&p); err != nil {
+			err = nil
+			continue
+		}
+		if !exists {
+			continue
+		}
+		isDir = stat.IsDir()
+		if !isDir {
+			if content, err = os.ReadFile(p); err != nil {
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+		ok = true
+		idx = i
+		return
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
 /*
 MakeDirIfNotExist will create a directory at a given path if it doesn't exist.
 
 See also the documentation for RealPath.
+
+This is a bit more sane option than os.MkdirAll as it will normalize paths a little better.
 */
 func MakeDirIfNotExist(path string) (err error) {