CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashshell
luozhibin
luozhibin

Reputation: 35

strange variable definition in shell script

test.sh:

#! /bin/sh
me=I ./test2.sh

test2.sh:

#! /bin/sh
echo $me

run script 1 and printing this:

[zhibin@szrnd1 sh]$ ./test.sh
I
[zhibin@szrnd1 sh]$

As see, the variable "$me" be transferred to "test2.sh".

I didn't find this usage of variable definition on googling, can someone tell me where can find the tutorial including the usage above mentioned?

Thx a lot!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 415

Answers (2)

Barmar
Barmar

Reputation: 780889

From the bash documentation on the Environment:

The environment for any simple command or function may be augmented temporarily by prefixing it with parameter assignments, as described in Shell Parameters. These assignment statements affect only the environment seen by that command.

So if you put variable assignments before a command, that command is run with those environment variables.

Upvotes: 2

Jason Winnebeck
Jason Winnebeck

Reputation: 1274

Since this has been mentioned on SO a lot, I'm assuming you're looking for some documentation on it. I'm not sure there is anything more detailed than the BASH documentation about this:

The environment for any simple command or function may be augmented temporarily by prefixing it with parameter assignments, as described in Shell Parameters. These assignment statements affect only the environment seen by that command.

As you've seen by experimenting, when you do "A=B command", it runs the command as if "export A=B" was run just prior to that command then A's value reverts to its previous after command completes. It's a very convenient way to pass some environment into a command while ensuring the rest of the script is not affected.

Upvotes: 2

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