Elementary question on script variable assignment

[Ezo]

I'm confused why this assignment works:

echo 'store this' | while read val1
do
echo "$val1"
done

but this doesn't:

echo 'store this too' | read val2

echo "$val2"

I can assign the value with this:

val3=$(echo 'store this aswell') > /dev/null

echo "$val3"

but it seems too longwinded.

What's the best method for storing a string from a script statement?

Many thanks.

[anomie]

If all you're doing is assigning a literal string to a variable, how about:

$ VAL1='Store This'

If you need to store the value of some operation, this is pretty standard - e.g.:

$ VAL2=$( hostname )

[Ezo]

Righty I'll stick with that method then.

Thanks

[scm]

I'm confused why this assignment works:

echo 'store this' | while read val1
do
echo "$val1"
done

but this doesn't:

echo 'store this too' | read val2
echo "$val2"

The reason the second example doesn't work is because when you use a pipe, the command is executed in a subshell, so the parent process can't see the assigned variable. The first example doesn't really work, either, and if you echo the variable after the "done" you'd realise this. Of course, this is the behaviour of bash, both examples work perfectly in a decent shell like ksh.