How can I access environment variable set in external bash script in Github Actions?

Question

I try to add a Jira ticket validation for our repository and decided to do it with Github actions.

I have an external bash script that I run in one step which sets the result if a Jira ticket is found to an environment variable.

I have another step which tried to access this environment variable and fail/success the flow by the result.

However, I can't seem to make it work, I don't see the new environment variable configured in the bash script.

Some code:

script.sh:

...
echo "jira_ticket_exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
...

Github action step:

    - name: choose to reject or not
    id: jira_ticket_reject
    continue-on-error: true
    run: |
      env # searched for it also here - it doesn't exist.
      echo ${{ env.jira_ticket_exists }} # this returns nothing
      if [ ${{ env.jira_ticket_exists }} == "true" ]; then
        echo "Jira ticket found"
        exit 0
      else
        echo "Jira ticket not found"
        exit 1
      fi

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

thank you

Your script is writing to a file, not an environment variable. Also, env vars are only passed on to child processes, not to siblings or parents, in case that's what you assume. — Ulrich Eckhardt
– Ulrich Eckhardt, Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 14:23
Why use echo in the first place to set a env variable? Why not declare it right away? Im just currious, perhaps you have a good reason, but this seems needless. — Marc
– Marc, Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 14:26
If I understand GuiFalourd's answer correctly, it seems to be a configuration file actually. The "environment variable" in the question seems to be a red herring, at best the config file shows up as environment variables at some point. — Ulrich Eckhardt
– Ulrich Eckhardt, Commented Mar 16, 2022 at 14:55

GuiFalourd · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-16 14:19:03Z

3

I tested the same thing here and the problem seems related to the double quotes you used with the $GITHUB_ENV.

In your shell script, instead of:

echo "jira_ticket_exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"

You should use:

echo "jira_ticket_exists=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV

Here is the demo I used if you want to check:

Workflow file
Shell script
Workflow run with env variable working as expected.

answered Mar 16, 2022 at 14:19

GuiFalourd

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1 Comment

Shachar Levy Over a year ago

just to add a follow-up. In my flow, I also used "cd" to the script location and then ran it. which I think is also related to my original issue. after removing the CD and doing @GuiFalourd recommendation I managed to get it working. Thank you!

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