bashvariablesenvironment-variables

Set environment variables from file of key/value pairs

TL;DR: How do I export a set of key/value pairs from a text file into the shell environment?

For the record, below is the original version of the question, with examples.

I'm writing a script in bash which parses files with 3 variables in a certain folder, this is one of them:

MINIENTREGA_FECHALIMITE="2011-03-31"
MINIENTREGA_FICHEROS="informe.txt programa.c"
MINIENTREGA_DESTINO="./destino/entrega-prac1"

This file is stored in ./conf/prac1

My script minientrega.sh then parses the file using this code:

cat ./conf/$1 | while read line; do
    export $line
done

But when I execute minientrega.sh prac1 in the command line it doesn't set the environment variables

I also tried using source ./conf/$1 but the same problem still applies

Maybe there is some other way to do this, I just need to use the environment variables of the file I pass as the argument of my script.

Solution

  • Problem with your approach is the export in the while loop is happening in a sub shell, and those variable will not be available in current shell (parent shell of while loop).

    Add export command in the file itself:

    export MINIENTREGA_FECHALIMITE="2011-03-31"
export MINIENTREGA_FICHEROS="informe.txt programa.c"
export MINIENTREGA_DESTINO="./destino/entrega-prac1"

    Then you need to source in the file in current shell using:

    . ./conf/prac1

    OR

    source ./conf/prac1