Question

I have a simple command in a Linux shell script (say foo.sh). In it I do this:

export INSTALL_DIR=/mnt/share/TEST_Linux

I run the script with:

> sh foo.sh

When it finishes I try to get the variable but the value is blank.

> echo $INSTALL_DIR

If I type the command directly the exported var becomes global to the opened terminal window. I’m using Ubuntu.

Answer 1

Setting environment variables is local to the child bash process running your script. To achieve what you want, you need to source it like this: source foo.sh. It means that it’s run by your main bash process. Then, the setting of a variable will remain after the script is finished.