UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Another approach if you just want to make the results of a called script available to the parent. Echo the results at the end of the called script and read the results in the parent script:

Code:

# abc01 - Top level script
var1="fred"
var2="joe"
var3="nothing"
var4="nothing"
./abc011 "${var1}" "${var2}" | read var3 var4
echo "var3=${var3}"
echo "var4=${var4}"


# abc011 - Script called from abc01
var5="${1}"
var6="${2}"
var7="${var5}-modified"
var8="${var6}-modified"
#
echo "${var7} ${var8}"


./abc01
var3=fred-modified
var4=joe-modified

idro, if I'm understanding the source of your confusion:

Environment variables are not global variables. You can't permanently set them for every other program, from one program. The closest thing there is to setting them globally is /etc/profile, and processes don't automatically get changes when you alter that -- it's read by shells on login and so forth.

How env vars work is child processes get copies from their parent on creation and thereafter are independent -- changes in the parent don't affect the child and vice versa.