Saving GITHUB_ENV Variable in GitHub Actions

Question

I'm trying to save a variable name in one step, using date. But, in a later step, it seems to be undefined (or empty?). What am I missing here?

jobs:
  # Create release branch for the week
  branch:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Format the date of next Tuesday
        id: tuesday
        run: echo "abbr=$(date -v+tuesday +'%y%m%d')" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Create a branch with next tuesday's date
        uses: peterjgrainger/[email protected]
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          branch: release/${{ steps.tuesday.outputs.abbr }}

Error:

refs/heads/release/ is not a valid ref name.

If you want to output a value from a step, shouldn't it look more like e.g. github.com/textbook/salary-stats/blob/…? That's what's shown in docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/actions/reference/… and it works for me. — jonrsharpe
– jonrsharpe, Commented Dec 14, 2020 at 10:26
Does this answer your question? Get output of a specific step in github actions — smac89
– smac89, Commented Dec 14, 2020 at 16:24

Krzysztof Madej · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-14 16:48:28Z

5

I slightly changed your create branch step but your slo should work if you solve issue with date formatting.

I changed it and it works.

jobs:
  # Create release branch for the week
  branch:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Format the date of next Tuesday
        id: tuesday
        run: echo "abbr=$(date '+tuesday%y%m%d')" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Read exported variable
        run: |
          echo "$abbr"
          echo "${{ env.abbr }}"

      - name: Create a branch with next tuesday's date
        uses: peterjgrainger/[email protected]
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          branch: release/${{ env.abbr }}

Here a logs from running this:

edited Dec 14, 2020 at 16:48

answered Dec 14, 2020 at 10:43

Krzysztof Madej

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8 Comments

smac89 Over a year ago

I don't see how the step is getting abbr seeing as you never created an environment variable called abbr. Also you are using the env context inside run which doesn't work

Krzysztof Madej Over a year ago

Are you sure what you are saying. I attached logs which proves different things than you are saying.

Krzysztof Madej Over a year ago

From what i recall ` run: echo "abbr=$(date '+tuesday%y%m%d')" >> $GITHUB_ENV` it created env variable.

smac89 Over a year ago

Ahh ok that makes sense now I wasn't aware of the GITHUB_ENV variable

Krzysztof Madej Over a year ago

What can I say more than logs 🙂 both statements were printed, so it appears to be working

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