Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi, Unix Gurus,
I have a problem need help. I have a script to generate environment variable code same as following:

Code:

oracle_sid=abcd
export oracle_sid

when I execute this code with command

Code:

./script_nane

it succeeded.
when I try to find it with env command or echo $oracle_sid, it does not show up and it can not be used in my statement.
when I use following command in command line, it works.(I can find it and use it)

Code:

export oracle_sid=abcd

Anybody can help me out this?

Thanks in advance

Which shell are you using?

bash

Pls try to execute this way

Code:

. ./script_name

Would you please explain little what's different between . ./script_name and ./script_name

When you source a file (that's the . ./script notation), the currently executing shell processes the commands in the script and any variable changes exist in that environment after the script file has been read.

When you execute the script, the commands are processed by a different invocation of the shell. Changes to variables made in that invocation are lost when the end of the script is reached and the shell terminates.

So, if you enter the command . ./script on the command line, the commands in script are interpreted by your currently running shell and thus are available after the file has been processed and can be examined by entering other commands (like echo) or are available for use by commands invoked from the command line (if they were exported).

I hope that makes things a bit more clear.