Can I export a variable to the environment from a bash script without sourcing it

Question

Suppose that I have this script  export bash       usr bin env bash export VAR  HELLO  VARIABLE    When I execute the script and try to access to the  VAR  I get no value   echo  VAR   Is there any way to access to the  VAR by just executing export bash without sourcing it

User · Answer

Execute   set -o allexport   Any variables you source from a file after this will be exported in your shell   source conf-file   When you re done execute  This will disable allexport mode   set  o allexport

User · Answer

Another workaround that  depends on the case  it could be useful  creating another bash that inherites the exported variable  It is a particular case of  Keith Thompson answer  will all of those drawbacks   export bash       bin bash export VAR  HELLO  VARIABLE  bash   Now     export bash echo  VAR

User · Answer

Is there any way to access to the  VAR by just executing export bash without sourcing it     Quick answer  No   But there are several possible workarounds   The most obvious one  which you ve already mentioned  is to use source or   to execute the script in the context of the calling shell     cat set-vars1 sh  export FOO BAR     set-vars1 sh    echo  FOO BAR   Another way is to have the script  rather than setting an environment variable  print commands that will set the environment variable     cat set-vars2 sh    bin bash echo export FOO BAR   eval      set-vars2 sh     echo   FOO  BAR   A third approach is to have a script that sets your environment variable s  internally and then invokes a specified command with that environment     cat set-vars3 sh    bin bash export FOO BAR exec          set-vars3 sh printenv   grep FOO FOO BAR   This last approach can be quite useful  though it s inconvenient for interactive use since it doesn t give you the settings in your current shell  with all the other settings and history you ve built up

User · Answer

Found an interesting and neat way to export environment variables from a file  in env vars  foo test  test script  eval  cat env vars  echo  foo             gt  test sh -c  echo  foo      gt    export eval  cat env vars  echo  foo             gt  test sh -c  echo  foo      gt  test    a better one   quot -- quot  stops processing options     key value list given as params export --  cat env vars  echo  foo             gt  test sh -c  echo  foo      gt  test

User · Answer

I don t think this can be done but I found a workaround using alias  It will only work when you place your script in your scripts directory  otherwise your alias will have an invalid name  The only point to the work around is to be able to have a function inside a file with the same name and not have to bother sourcing it before using it  Add the following code to    bashrc  alias myFunction  unalias myFunction  amp  amp    myFunction  amp  amp  myFunction  quot    quot    You can now call myFunction without sourcing it first

User · Answer

In order to export out the VAR variable first the most logical and seems working way is to source the variable       export bash   or   source   export bash   Now when echoing from main shell it works   echo  VAR HELLO  VARABLE   We will now reset VAR  export VAR    echo  VAR   Now we will execute a script to source the variable then unset it      test-export sh  HELLO  VARABLE --     the code  cat test-export sh          bin bash       Source env variable     source   export bash        echo out the variable in test script     echo  VAR        unset the variable      unset VAR       echo a few dotted lines     echo  ---        now return VAR which is blank     echo  VAR   Here is one way   PLEASE NOTE  The exports are limited to the script that execute the exports in your main console - so as far as a cron job I would add it like the console like below    for the command part still questionable  here is how you would run in from your shell   On your command prompt  so long as the export bash has multiple echo values   IFS    n   for entries in     export bash   do  export  entries   done    v1 sh  HELLO THERE HI THERE   cat v1 sh      bin bash echo  VAR echo  VAR1   Now so long as this is for your usage - you could make the variables available for your scripts at any time by doing a bash alias like this   myvars   v1 sh HELLO THERE HI THERE  echo  VAR      add this to your  bashrc  function myvars          IFS    n        for entries in     export bash   do  export  entries   done                    for entries in     export bash   do variable   echo  entries awk -F      print  1     unset  variable  done      source your bashrc file and you can do like above any time      Anyhow back to the rest of it    This has made it available globally then executed the script    simply echo it out then run export on the echo    cat export bash      bin bash echo  VAR HELLO THERE    Now within script or your console run    export      export bash     Try   echo  VAR HELLO THERE   Multiple values so long as you know what you are expecting in another script using above method   cat export bash      bin bash echo  VAR HELLO THERE  echo  VAR1 HI THERE    cat test-export sh      bin bash  IFS    n  for entries in     export bash   do    export  entries done  echo  round 1  echo  VAR echo  VAR1  for entries in     export bash   do      variable   echo  entries awk -F      print  1          unset  variable done  echo  round 2  echo  VAR echo  VAR1   Now the results     test-export sh  round 1 HELLO THERE HI THERE round 2       and the final final update to auto assign read the VARIABLES     test-export sh  Round 0 - Export out then find variable name -  Set current variable to the variable exported then echo its value  VAR has value of HELLO THERE  VAR1 has value of HI THERE round 1 - we know what was exported and we will echo out known variables HELLO THERE HI THERE Round 2 - We will just return the variable names and unset them  round 3 - Now we get nothing back   The script  cat test-export sh      bin bash  IFS    n  echo  Round 0 - Export out then find variable name -   echo  Set current variable to the variable exported then echo its value  for entries in     export bash   do  variable   echo  entries awk -F      print  1      export  entries  eval current variable    variable  echo     variable has value of  current variable  done   echo  round 1 - we know what was exported and we will echo out known variables  echo  VAR echo  VAR1  echo  Round 2 - We will just return the variable names and unset them   for entries in     export bash   do  variable   echo  entries awk -F      print  1      unset  variable done  echo  round 3 - Now we get nothing back  echo  VAR echo  VAR1

User · Answer

Maybe you can write a function in    zshrc     bashrc      set my env   -s    env    amp  amp  export MYENV  cat    env  function myenv        -s    env     amp  amp  echo  argv  gt     env  amp  amp  export MYENV  argv     Beacause of use variable outside  you can avoid write script file

User · Answer

The answer is no  but for me I did the following  the script  myExport      bin bash export  1   an alias in my  bashrc  alias myExport  source myExport     Still you source it  but maybe in this way it is more useable and it is interesting for someone else

[bash] Can I export a variable to the environment from a bash script without sourcing it?

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