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I have the following shell script

TEST=/foopath
export TEST

It is in a file called test.sh and on which I ran chmod +x test.sh

When I run ./test.sh I expect that I can then execute echo $TEST and see the output /foopath but I see nothing.

What changes are needed to make the above script export the variable $TEST when I run ./test.sh. Is this a bash vs. zsh difference?

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    Assigned variables exports to daughter processes but to parent one. If you like to use vars from script you should use source command. source test.sh Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 18:06
  • There may be a better duplicate (in fact, I'm pretty sure there has been a question specifically about environment variables, but I couldn't find it). The accepted answer addresses this case exactly though. Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 18:53

1 Answer 1

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6

It's a parent- v. child-shell difference.

When you run test.sh, a new shell is started to run it; the variable is exported within that shell. That means the new shell is aware of it, and any of its own children. The parent shell, the one you started test.sh from, isn't affected at all (and can't be).

To see the variable in your current shell, you need to source the script instead:

. test.sh

(with a space between . and test.sh). This will run test.sh without starting a new shell.

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