Getting "command not found" while printing variable in Azure DevOps yaml Pipeline

While creating yml for my build. I am having multiple environments, namely Dev, QA and Production, and have three Git branches acting as base feature branches representing each environment.

I have created their matching variable groups and trying to create a pipeline which runs on merge of Pull Request against each of these branches. Variables' name in all three of them groups are identical, just their value differs.

Following is my YAML for Azure DevOps pipeline i have created

# specific branch build with batching
trigger:
  batch: true
  branches:
    include:
      - master
      - DEV
      - QA
  paths:
    exclude:
      - README.md

pr: none

jobs:
  - job: Deploy
    variables:
      - ${{ if eq(variables['System.PullRequest.TargetBranch'], 'refs/heads/master') }}:
          group: sfdx-org-prod
      - ${{ if eq(variables['System.PullRequest.TargetBranch'], 'refs/heads/QA') }}:
          group: sfdx-org-qa
      - ${{ if eq(variables['System.PullRequest.TargetBranch'], 'refs/heads/DEV') }}:
          group: sfdx-org-dev
    # Define the pipeline jobs
    steps:
      - script: |
          echo $(System.PullRequest.TargetBranch)
          echo $(OrgAlias)
          echo $(SalesforceUserName)
        displayName: "Selected Variable Group"

When I am running the build, I am getting error saying "OrgAlias: command not found"

I have checked all variable groups, their labels, etc. can't find anything off.

Since I want this build to be automated and free from user inputs, i am not implementing "runtime parameters".

Any input would be great.

I cross checked the variable labels and matched them against the one in YAML. Changed bash to script in job.

Ideally i would like it to dynamically fetch the values of variables in variable groups.

The problem

According to predefined variables, variable System.PullRequest.TargetBranch is not available in templates (compile time). This means you cannot use it in template expressions such as ${{ if eq(...) }}.

Also, variable System.PullRequest.TargetBranch is not available in CI triggers like the one defined in your pipeline:

trigger:
  batch: true
  branches:
    include:
      - master
      - DEV
      - QA
  paths:
    exclude:
      - README.md

Workaround

Instead of having a single pipeline, consider creating a pipeline for each branch/environment.

A base pipeline (using extends templates) can be used to reduce code duplication.

/pipelines/base-pipeline.yaml

parameters:
  - name: environment
    displayName: Environment to deploy to
    type: string
    values:
      - dev
      - qa
      - prod

jobs:
  - job: Deploy
    variables:
      - group: sfdx-org-${{ parameters.environment }}
    # Define the pipeline jobs
    steps:
      - script: |
          echo $(OrgAlias)
          echo $(SalesforceUserName)
        displayName: "Selected Variable Group"

---

/pipelines/dev-pipeline.yaml

Dev specific branch:

• Configured in the branch policies of DEV branch as part of the pull request validation
• CI trigger configured for the DEV branch

trigger:
  batch: true
  branches:
    include:
      - DEV
  paths:
    exclude:
      - README.md

pr: none

extends:
  template: /pipelines/base-pipeline.yaml
  parameters:
    environment: dev # <-------------- hard-coded value

---

/pipelines/qa-pipeline.yaml

QA specific branch:

• Configured in the branch policies of QA branch as part of the pull request validation
• CI trigger configured for the QA branch

trigger:
  batch: true
  branches:
    include:
      - QA
  paths:
    exclude:
      - README.md

pr: none

extends:
  template: /pipelines/base-pipeline.yaml
  parameters:
    environment: qa # <-------------- hard-coded value

---

/pipelines/prod-pipeline.yaml

Prod specific branch:

• Configured in the branch policies of master branch as part of the pull request validation
• CI trigger configured for the master branch

trigger:
  batch: true
  branches:
    include:
      - master
  paths:
    exclude:
      - README.md

pr: none

extends:
  template: /pipelines/base-pipeline.yaml
  parameters:
    environment: prod # <-------------- hard-coded value

Notes:

• On the one hand, you'll have multiple pipelines to manage. But on the other hand, pipelines will be much simpler and easier to manage.