what does export do?

[Paul Howarth]

THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> from the man file:
> 
>        export [-fn] [name[=word]] ...
>        export -p
>               The supplied names are marked for automatic export to
> the  environment  of
>               subsequently  executed  commands.   If  the  -f option
> is given, the names
>               refer to functions.  If no names are given, or if the -p
>  option  is  sup-
>               plied,  a  list  of  all names that are exported in this
> shell is printed.
>               The -n option causes the export property to be removed
> from each name.  If
>               a  variable name is followed by =word, the value of the
> variable is set to
>               word.  export returns an exit status of 0  unless  an 
> invalid  option  is
>               encountered, one of the names is not a valid shell
> variable name, or -f is
>               supplied with a name that is not a function.
> 
> but it doesn't say which files are effected by the command.  is it
> stored somewhere?

No files are affected by the command. All it does is mark a shell 
variable as being an environment variable that is passed on to any 
subsequent commands you execute *from that shell*.

Paul.