using export command

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I saw a unix shell script in which export command is used like this :
export filename
what is a file exported for ?

thanks
srini

2

Actually, the way to think of it is that variables are exported. And a variable gets exported to the environment. This means that child processes will be able to access it. The PATH variable was exported for you. View it with:
echo $PATH
You may have commands like env or printenv that can display the entire environment.

3

Hi Perderabo,
Thanks for your reply.But in that script i see that they have used it to export a filename....I agree that export is used so that the child shell can also have access to the variables.And i also agree what u said about the path varible being exported.And i see that the file name is either a actual filename or a directory path.
So what is the reason to do this ?
Thanks in advance
sveera

4

I command like "export filename" defines a variable called "filename" and sets the export flag. This would only be useful if a
filename=something
statement followed or preceded.

This assumes ksh or bash. And it assumes that "export" was not redefined. It's possible that the author of the script made an error.

5

Thank you Perderabo.
bye
sveera