Exporting environment variable in bash script - it doesnt work

Question

I wrote a little bash script to export environment variable:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Pass a path:"
read path
echo $path

defaultPath = /home/katie/Desktop

if [ -n "$path" ]; then
    echo "Path is empty! Exporting default path ..."
    export my_var=$defaultPath
else
    export my_var=$path
fi

but I got error:

defaultPath: command not found

How to fix it?

WORKNG VERSION:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Pass a path:"
read path
echo $path

defaultPath=/home/user/Desktop

if [ -n "$path" ]; then
    export my_var=$path
else
    echo "Path is empty! Exporting default path ..."
    export my_var=$defaultPath
fi

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-24 15:43:25Z

8

No whitespace is allowed surrounding the = in a variable assignment:

defaultPath=/home/katie/Desktop

With spaces, the line is interpreted as a simple command that attempts to execute the command defaultPath with two arguments, = and /home/katie/Desktop.

answered Aug 24, 2012 at 15:43

chepner

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1 Comment

Katie Over a year ago

Thank you! It worked now but take a look how it worked: pastie.org/private/qlgozczj1nphfrdb1hvkw. Did I miss sth else?

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