[sh] while loop and a global variable

[blah]

When I prefix [cmd=]while[/cmd] loop with pipe sh eats my global variable assigned inside the loop body

$ echo baz | while true; do foo=blah; echo $foo; break; done
blah
$ echo $foo

$

So, it's visible inside loop but not outside. Why it's invisible only when as part of a pipe?

$ while true; do foo=blah; echo $foo; break; done
blah
$ echo $foo
blah
$

In zsh it's visible in both cases.

8-CURRENT r194410M amd64 here.

 

[ale]

AFAIK it's because pipes are executed in a different process.
For example, without using variables, what is your $PWD after running the following?
$ cd ~ ; cd /tmp/ | pwd

 

[varda]

Loop also executes in a subshell. Try export variable to environment in plain/bourne sh. For example:

export N=1
while [ $N -lt 10 ]; do
        N=$(($N + 1))
done
echo $N

It will print 10