export variable to parent shell

barunparichha · 05-21-2009, 04:05 AM

Is there a way to export a variable to parent shell in shell scripting ?

druuna · 05-21-2009, 04:25 AM

Hi,

It is not possible to export a variable from child to parent. You can work around it by letting the child store variable(s) in a (temporary) file and let the parent read them.

Depending on the complexity (are parent and child running at the same time/does one have to wait for the other, stuff like that) you might want to set tokens (in this case an empty file) to streamline the reads and writes.

Hope this helps.

dgard · 01-31-2011, 07:32 PM

If what you want to do is use a shell script to set up some environment variables (this is usually the case), you simply need to invoke the script like this:

Code:

. ./my_script.sh

That will do the trick. You can find the reference in the bash man page.

druuna · 02-01-2011, 03:20 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgard

If what you want to do is use a shell script to set up some environment variables (this is usually the case), you simply need to invoke the script like this:

Code:

. ./my_script.sh

That will do the trick. You can find the reference in the bash man page.

This will parse the variables in the current shell, not the parent shell (no child is created when parsing a file, a child is created when you execute the file).

I do believe the OP wanted to export a variable to [the] parent shell in shell scripting, way back in 2009......