Passing the variable from parent to child shell via shell script

Question

On the parent shell (root) executing the following:

SESSION_RECORD=started

Output:

echo $SESSION_RECORD
started

However, when I check the status from a shell script, the value is not getting assigned. I am aware it creates a child and executes the script, which is why it doesn't take the variable.

Is there a way I can import that from the parent shell to the child shell? I don't want to use export as the root variable is dynamic.

script for ref:

#!/bin/bash

session=`echo $SESSION_RECORD`
echo $session
if [ "$session" == "started" ]
then
echo "screen records"
else
echo "screen not started"
fi

Basically, my script should check the value of the variable and if it matches it should get into the loop and execute commands further.

The value of the variable SESSION_RECORD changes dynamically, so based on the value, I need to run a script.

Answer 1

You don't need to set the value of a variable when you export it. You can do:

SESSION_RECORD=started
echo "Now some other stuff"
export SESSION_RECORD && ./myscript

and it will export the current value of SESSION_RECORD to your script.

Answer 2

If you make your script a function, then it won't create a subshell while executing, so accessing the variable should work just fine. Maybe that would work for you?

Example:

$ cat test.sh
#!/bin/bash

function foo() {
  echo $foo
}
$ source test.sh
$ foo=5
$ foo
5
$ foo=4
$ foo
4
$