Nested environment variables

Question & Answer
1

I have some files uploaded in the generic file store and in my workflow I have a file download step. Now depending on a variable called “society” I need to replace part of the environment variable name to download. Basically, I need to do something like:

$BITRISEIO_firebase_info_${society}_URL

Which would give me something like

$BITRISEIO_firebase_info_AUS_URL

Which then expands to a URL to download a file.

As far as I can tell, it’s not possible to have a variable expand inside of another variable. I tried a few different ways and my file download step always errored.

Any tips/advice would be appreciated.

1 Like
2

Hello there! well this is not really possible, but you could just make two separate env vars for the two urls.

3

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5

Actually it can work with Bash indirect ref:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -ex

export society=AUS
export BITRISEIO_firebase_info_AUS_URL='https://some.aus.url'

full_env_var_key=BITRISEIO_firebase_info_${society}_URL

echo "key: $full_env_var_key"
echo "value: ${!full_env_var_key}"

value_as_a_normal_variable="${!full_env_var_key}"
echo "value_as_a_normal_variable: ${value_as_a_normal_variable}"

(based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16553089/dynamic-variable-names-in-bash ).

If you then want to use the value in another step then you can expose the result to a new env var, e.g. CURRENT_FIREBASE_INFO_URL which then can be used in step inputs directly:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -ex

export society=AUS
export BITRISEIO_firebase_info_AUS_URL='https://some.aus.url'

full_env_var_key=BITRISEIO_firebase_info_${society}_URL

echo "key: $full_env_var_key"
echo "value: ${!full_env_var_key}"

value_as_a_normal_variable="${!full_env_var_key}"
echo "value_as_a_normal_variable: ${value_as_a_normal_variable}"

bitrise envman add --key CURRENT_FIREBASE_INFO_URL --value "$value_as_a_normal_variable"
6

If don’t need actual final variable but only its value you can use more explicit approach like this:
printenv BITRISEIO_firebase_info_${society}_URL
Note there is no leading $.
Usage with envman:
envman add --key FOO --value $(printenv BITRISEIO_firebase_info_${society}_URL)