Question

I am want to change a global variable (or at least append to it) using a function.

input="Hello"
example=input    

func() {
    declare -x $example="${input} World"
}

func
echo $input

The output of this would be “Hello” The original value. I would like it if the function were to able to change the original value. Is there alternative to accomplishing this. Please note I need to set example=input and then perform on the operation on example (the variable).

BTW, if I used eval instead the function will complain about World being a function or something.

Answer 1

Did you try using export?

export $example="${input} World"