The Purpose of the Bash Built-in Export Command

D

The purpose of the Bash built-in export command is to set up environment variables for applications. When a variable is exported, it is made available to any child processes that are created from the current shell. This means that if you have a variable set in your current shell and you want a program or script to have access to that variable, you can use the export command to make the variable available.

For example, let's say you have a variable called MY_VAR that you have set to a value of "hello" in your current shell. If you want a script to have access to that variable, you can use the export command like this:

javascriptCopy code
export MY_VAR 

Now, any child processes created from this shell will have access to the MY_VAR variable and its value. This can be useful for setting up environment variables that are needed by various programs and scripts.

It's important to note that the export command only affects child processes that are created from the current shell. It does not affect the parent shell or any other shells that may be running on the system. Additionally, environment variables that are set with the export command are not persistent across system reboots or across different shell sessions.

In summary, the purpose of the Bash built-in export command is to set up environment variables for applications, making them available to any child processes created from the current shell.