setenv does not work from script

This post explains how to export a variable from a shell script to a tcsh parent shell.
 
consider the following script

hogwarts:~/x> cat setup_var.sh
#! /bin/tcsh -f

setenv a RAJU
echo $a

The executable bit is set on the script

hogwarts:~/x> chmod +x setup_var.sh
hogwarts:~/x> ls -al setup_var.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rajulocal rajulocal 39 Jul  9 03:40 setup_var.sh 

I am using the tcsh shell

hogwarts:~/x> echo $0
tcsh

When executed, it shows that the variable "a" is getting the correct value

hogwarts:~/x> ./setup_var.sh
RAJU

However, the variable is not exported to the parent shell even though setenv is used in the script.

hogwarts:~/x> echo $a
a: Undefined variable.

The solution is to "source the script" instead of "dot executing".

hogwarts:~/x> source setup_var.sh
RAJU
hogwarts:~/x> echo $a
RAJU

Voila! Now the variable "a" is exported to the parent shell.

Happy shell script hacking...

Disable system bell

1. The annoying system beep on tab completions can be disabled in Debian by adding the following lines to ~/.inputrc

$cat /home/rajulocal/.inputrc
# do not bell on tab-completion
set bell-style none
set bell-style visible

Unlike "xset b 0", the above hack works even if you are not running X.

Tested on Debian Etch (currently stable), on

$bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.1.17(1)-release (i486-pc-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

2. To disable the annoying bell sound in vim, gvim add the following line to ~/.vimrc

set vb t_vb=

More info for vim can be found at

:help visualbell

Tested on Debian Etch (currently stable), on vim 7.0.122

3. To disable the system bell sounds in tcsh, add the following line to ~/.cshrc

set nobeep

Tested it on Solaris 8, tcsh