On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 10:33 AM, Little, Douglas <douglas.lit...@orbitz.com
> wrote:
> psql
>
> orbitz=# \!testvar=1234
>
> orbitz=# \!export testvar
>
> orbitz=# \!echo $testvar
>
> 1234
>
> orbitz=# \q
>
> -bash-3.00$ echo
> $testvar
>
>
> 1234
>
What shell are you using that allows a child process to alter the parent
process' environment? ohhhhh. you must be on windows.... this is not
normal unix behavior: the child process (psql) cannot alter the parent
(shell) environment, and every \! command you run fires a new subshell. On
unix you see this:
[yertle]% psql
Timing is on.
Welcome to psql 8.3.9 (server 8.3.7), the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit
khera=> \!testvar=1234
khera=> \!export testvar
khera=> \!echo $testvar
khera=> \q
[yertle]% echo $testvar
testvar: Undefined variable.
[yertle]%
