Calling and passing variables values between shell scripts

Question

OS: Ubuntu 18.04
Bash

I am trying to get one shell script to pass variables to another script and execute it. Here's what I tried:

mainscript.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Master script
SUBSCRIPT1_PATH=~/subscript1.sh
test_string="The cat ate the canary"
(exec "$SUBSCRIPT1_PATH")

subscript1.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# subscript1.sh
echo $test_string

But, when I do:

bash mainscript.sh

I get nothing. Any ideas on how to do this?

`(exec "$SUBSCRIPT1_PATH")` is equivalent to `"$SUBSCRIPT1_PATH"` — that other guy, Sep 12 '19 at 17:23
The parentheses are not needed around your `exec` statement, by the way. — Mark Setchell, Sep 12 '19 at 17:26

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 12 '19 at 17:33

2

Shell variables are by default not visible in child processes. To pass them to children use the export keyword:

#!/bin/bash
# Master script
SUBSCRIPT1_PATH=~/subscript1.sh
export test_string="The cat ate the canary"
(exec "$SUBSCRIPT1_PATH")

edited Sep 12 '19 at 17:33

John Kugelman

answered Sep 12 '19 at 17:22

Pacifist

1 Answers1