Unable to execute a script from another shell script

Question

I have a script (A) which begins with a #!/bin/sh shebang.

There is another file (B) which doesn't begin with #!/bin/sh; it has some environment variables which I need to set for A to work.

The file B runs fine, and sets the variables when executed from .bash_profile. For example, in my .bash_profile file:

{. /(full_path)/(envname)/(filename).sh;}

When I write same line in my A script file, nothing happens. Why not?

I did echo $env_variable_name; this gives me the correct path when executed via .bash_profile but gives me blank when via my script A. I tried

SCRIPT_FULL_NAME=$(readlink -f "$0")
SCRIPT_PATH=$(dirname $SCRIPT_FULL_NAME)
sh ${SCRIPT_PATH}/(filename).sh

What should I do?

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– Sahil M, Commented May 31, 2016 at 8:34
What's in your B file? Make sure it has no bashisms (e.g. export foo=bar rather than foo=bar; export foo) - or change A's interpreter to /bin/bash. You should be able to trace execution using sh -x A; that's often helpful in debugging shell scripts. — Toby Speight
– Toby Speight, Commented May 31, 2016 at 9:44

blatinox · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-31 11:45:53Z

2

There is another file (B) which doesn't begin with #!/bin/sh; it has some environment variables which I need to set for A to work.

In this case you should source you script B in script A. To source a script in sh, the command is:

. /path/to/B.sh

Note that the . is not the beginning of a relative path to script B.

answered May 31, 2016 at 11:45

blatinox

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2 Comments

Also using the keyword source (which . is an alias for) might be more readable.

Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks. :)