How might I source a Bash script from another interactive Bash script?

Question

I have a interactive Bash script, conozcoArrays.sh,

#!/usr/bin/bash

echo -e "\nGive me their phone number?\n"

read number

TOGOes=("$(find ~/chicas -maxdepth 1 -iname "*$number*" -type d -execdir echo {} + | sed "s;./;${HOME}/chicas/;g")" 
"$(find ~/chulos -maxdepth 1 -iname "*$number*" -type d -execdir echo {} + | sed "s;./;${HOME}/chulos/;g")"
"$(find ~/parejas -maxdepth 1 -iname "*$number*" -type d -execdir echo {} + | sed "s;./;${HOME}/parejas/;g")"
)

for togo in "${TOGOes[@]}"
do
  if [[ $togo != "" ]]; then
    echo $togo
    export togo && cd $togo && return 0
  else
    echo "Haven't found her in my directories." && cd ~/chicas
  fi
done

that performs a search in my directories for a keyword, and if it finds anything it changes to this directory. For this reason I usually launch it sourcing it, like so . ~/CS/SoftwareDevelopment/MySoftware/Bash/pasion/conozcoArrays.sh

I also have another Bash script, todo.sh, that references 'conozcoArrays.sh':

#!/usr/bin/bash

ita='\e[3m'
end='\e[0m'

echo -e "1. La conozco?
2. Search through websites for a given phone number and create a dossier.
3. {ita}escort-scraper.py{end}"

read ch

if [[ "${ch}" == '1' ]]; then
  . ~/CS/SoftwareDevelopment/MySoftware/Bash/pasion/conozcoArrays.sh
elif [[ "${ch}" == '2' ]]; then
  "${HOME}/CS/SoftwareDevelopment/MySoftware/Python/escorts/search-no.py"
elif [[ "${ch}" == '3' ]]; then
  "${HOME}/CS/SoftwareDevelopment/MySoftware/Python/escorts/escort-scraper.py"
fi

The issue is that when I enter 1 conozcoArrays.sh is not evaluated, it is launched but it does not seem to be sourced - I expect to be in a different directory after the todo.sh script finishes but I'm not. How might I source conozcoArrays.sh from another interactive script?

Answer 1

Your script is launched, as you say, and also as you say, it isn't sourced because you are not sourcing it, you are executing it. This means that the script does change directory but only while it is running. When the script exits, your original shell hasn't moved directory.

If you want a cd command inside a script to affect the parent shell, the interactive shell from which you launch the script, you need to source it. So instead of running todo.sh, source it:

. /path/to/todo.sh

And then it will behave as you want.