"Han Huynh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I know this isn't a bash/korn shell script news group, but the fact is
> I can't find one. Since bash/ksh is the default linux shell, I was
> hoping someone could answer a few pretty simple questions.
>
> Is there any way to export a variable for one parent shell to a
> different parent shell? I know that export will work to a subshell,
> but I can't find any process to return a variable to a different
> parent shell.
Can't be done. What are you really trying to do? The "." command
will read in a child script in the current shell, so you can do things
like write a generic .variables script and then run
". $HOME/.variables" in both your shell startup file and your
.xsession to read those in. Another useful alternative for really
short things is shell functions; I have some shell code that looks
like
ATHENA_SYS=i386_linux24
add() { if test -d "/mit/$1/arch/$ATHENA_SYS/bin"; then
PATH="$PATH:/mit/$1/arch/$ATHENA_SYS/bin";
elif test -d "/mit/$1/bin"; then
PATH="$PATH:/mit/$1/bin";
fi }
so I can run 'add outland' or whatever to add an MIT "locker" to my
shell path; there's an automounter running on /mit.
--
David Maze [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/
"Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
-- Abra Mitchell
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
