> Maybe: export FOO=xx ?? I tried it. It goes in, but the old value gets restored after the ) We need a shell wizard. sh-4.4$ foo=3 sh-4.4$ (echo $foo) 3 sh-4.4$ (foo=4; echo $foo) 4 sh-4.4$ echo $foo 3 sh-4.4$ -- These are my opinions. I hate spam.