Question : Exporting arrays in Bash

Cannot export arrays to a subshell. Expot -a array and declare -x do not actuallly export an array in Bash. The array works fine in the shell it is created, but is blank in all subshells. If I input set, the array shows up as a global variable, but if I type bash to enter a subshell then the set command no longer shows the array. Any trick I can use to get around Bash's unwillingness to export arrays.

Answer : Exporting arrays in Bash

OK, that explains the why.

The short answer is that bash and ksh don't support exporting of arrays.  It's something that may be added to bash at a later date.  I'm not really sure what the technical reason for ksh/bash not being able to support exporting arrays.

The workarounds are to source the called script or to use some other construct to parse the data.