diff --git a/Lib/user.py b/Lib/user.py
index 1374c11f931..ee8ed88d638 100644
--- a/Lib/user.py
+++ b/Lib/user.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 As a policy, Python doesn't run user-specified code on startup of
 Python programs (interactive sessions execute the script specified in
-the PYTHONPATH environment variable if it exists).
+the PYTHONSTARTUP environment variable if it exists).
 
 However, some programs or sites may find it convenient to allow users
 to have a standard customization file, which gets run when a program