Shell Programming and Scripting

Here is a sample script demonstrating the issue

Code:

x() {
echo "foo"
a=1
}

## the value of $a is 1
a=0
x
echo $a

## the value of $a stays 0
a=0
x|sed "s/foo/bar/"
echo $a

Result:
foo
1
bar
0


I need the value assigned to a in the function. How can I get that?

I've tested this on OS AIX and Fedora Core 14. I have used both KSH and SH with the same result. I could write the value to a file then read the file after the return but that is clunky. Is there a cleaner way?

Thanks,
Paul

Your shell function

Code:

x

in the

Code:

x|sed "s/foo/bar/"

line is run in a subshell (another shell process is started to run the pipeline), and as such the subshell's variable "a" is really a different "a" then the one in the parent program.

Gary