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Why doesn't os.environ.get() return a variable created by sourcing a .env file, but echo can find it?

Here's one of those rare questions that gets asked a lot on SO, but there's no answer. I'll ask it again a little differently.
I'm trying to set an environment variable using a file and then read the variable in python. That should be pretty basic.
However, check this out:
$ cat .env.test
NAME=Bob
$ cat x.py
import os
print(os.environ.get("NAME"))
$ (source .env.test; echo $NAME)
Bob
$ (source .env.test; python3 x.py)
None
Isn't that strange? Why doesn't it work?
Is it because I didn't write export in the .env file? If I add export, it does work. But why? Isn't this what source is supposed to do?
$ cat .env.test
export NAME=Bob
$ cat x.py
import os
print(os.environ.get("NAME"))
$ (source .env.test; echo $NAME)
Bob
$ (source .env.test; python3 x.py)
Bob
I think the community could use an explanation about how sub-shells work, how source works and where python is looking for the environment variables, to answer this once and for all. Can you do that?
Related Questions
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Python os.environ.get not returning value

var=value does not define an environment variable unless the option set -a is defined. By default, it only defines a shell variable.
Non-exported shell variables do not survive an exec() boundary -- that is to say, when you start a new executable, only environment variables survive.
To export all variables sourced in from a file, enable the set -a shell option before sourcing it, as described in How to set environment variables from .env file:
$ (set -a; source .env.test; exec python3 x.py)
In the above case we don't need to turn off set -a because it's scoped to a subshell that exits when the ) is hit -- or even before, because we can use exec to tell the subshell to replace itself with Python without forking again.
For a more general case, when this is used inside a script that's going to continue to run for a while, it would instead look like:
set -a # enable auto-export
source .env.test # source file content
set +a # disable auto-export

Add environment variables in python [duplicate]

I was hoping to write a python script to create some appropriate environmental variables by running the script in whatever directory I'll be executing some simulation code, and I've read that I can't write a script to make these env vars persist in the mac os terminal. So two things:
Is this true?
and
It seems like it would be a useful things to do; why isn't it possible in general?

You can't do it from python, but some clever bash tricks can do something similar. The basic reasoning is this: environment variables exist in a per-process memory space. When a new process is created with fork() it inherits its parent's environment variables. When you set an environment variable in your shell (e.g. bash) like this:
export VAR="foo"
What you're doing is telling bash to set the variable VAR in its process space to "foo". When you run a program, bash uses fork() and then exec() to run the program, so anything you run from bash inherits the bash environment variables.
Now, suppose you want to create a bash command that sets some environment variable DATA with content from a file in your current directory called ".data". First, you need to have a command to get the data out of the file:
cat .data
That prints the data. Now, we want to create a bash command to set that data in an environment variable:
export DATA=`cat .data`
That command takes the contents of .data and puts it in the environment variable DATA. Now, if you put that inside an alias command, you have a bash command that sets your environment variable:
alias set-data="export DATA=`cat .data`"
You can put that alias command inside the .bashrc or .bash_profile files in your home directory to have that command available in any new bash shell you start.

One workaround is to output export commands, and have the parent shell evaluate this..
thescript.py:
import pipes
import random
r = random.randint(1,100)
print("export BLAHBLAH=%s" % (pipes.quote(str(r))))
..and the bash alias (the same can be done in most shells.. even tcsh!):
alias setblahblahenv="eval $(python thescript.py)"
Usage:
$ echo $BLAHBLAH
$ setblahblahenv
$ echo $BLAHBLAH
72
You can output any arbitrary shell code, including multiple commands like:
export BLAHBLAH=23 SECONDENVVAR='something else' && echo 'everything worked'
Just remember to be careful about escaping any dynamically created output (the pipes.quote module is good for this)

If you set environment variables within a python script (or any other script or program), it won't affect the parent shell.
Edit clarification:
So the answer to your question is yes, it is true.
You can however export from within a shell script and source it by using the dot invocation
in fooexport.sh
export FOO="bar"
at the command prompt
$ . ./fooexport.sh
$ echo $FOO
bar

It's not generally possible. The new process created for python cannot affect its parent process' environment. Neither can the parent affect the child, but the parent gets to setup the child's environment as part of new process creation.
Perhaps you can set them in .bashrc, .profile or the equivalent "runs on login" or "runs on every new terminal session" script in MacOS.
You can also have python start the simulation program with the desired environment. (use the env parameter to subprocess.Popen (http://docs.python.org/library/subprocess.html) )
import subprocess, os
os.chdir('/home/you/desired/directory')
subprocess.Popen(['desired_program_cmd', 'args', ...], env=dict(SOMEVAR='a_value') )
Or you could have python write out a shell script like this to a file with a .sh extension:
export SOMEVAR=a_value
cd /home/you/desired/directory
./desired_program_cmd
and then chmod +x it and run it from anywhere.

What I like to do is use /usr/bin/env in a shell script to "wrap" my command line when I find myself in similar situations:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/env NAME1="VALUE1" NAME2="VALUE2" ${*}
So let's call this script "myappenv". I put it in my $HOME/bin directory which I have in my $PATH.
Now I can invoke any command using that environment by simply prepending "myappenv" as such:
myappenv dosometask -xyz
Other posted solutions work too, but this is my personal preference. One advantage is that the environment is transient, so if I'm working in the shell only the command I invoke is affected by the altered environment.
Modified version based on new comments
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/env G4WORKDIR=$PWD ${*}
You could wrap this all up in an alias too. I prefer the wrapper script approach since I tend to have other environment prep in there too, which makes it easier for me to maintain.

As answered by Benson, but the best hack-around is to create a simple bash function to preserve arguments:
upsert-env-var (){ eval $(python upsert_env_var.py $*); }
Your can do whatever you want in your python script with the arguments. To simply add a variable use something like:
var = sys.argv[1]
val = sys.argv[2]
if os.environ.get(var, None):
print "export %s=%s:%s" % (var, val, os.environ[var])
else:
print "export %s=%s" % (var, val)
Usage:
upsert-env-var VAR VAL

As others have pointed out, the reason this doesn't work is that environment variables live in a per-process memory spaces and thus die when the Python process exits.
They point out that a solution to this is to define an alias in .bashrc to do what you want such as this:
alias export_my_program="export MY_VAR=`my_program`"
However, there's another (a tad hacky) method which does not require you to modify .bachrc, nor requires you to have my_program in $PATH (or specify the full path to it in the alias). The idea is to run the program in Python if it is invoked normally (./my_program), but in Bash if it is sourced (source my_program). (Using source on a script does not spawn a new process and thus does not kill environment variables created within.) You can do that as follows:
my_program.py:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
_UNUSED_VAR=0
_UNUSED_VAR=0 \
<< _UNUSED_VAR
#=======================
# Bash code starts here
#=======================
'''
_UNUSED_VAR
export MY_VAR=`$(dirname $0)/my_program.py`
echo $MY_VAR
return
'''
#=========================
# Python code starts here
#=========================
print('Hello environment!')
Running this in Python (./my_program.py), the first 3 lines will not do anything useful and the triple-quotes will comment out the Bash code, allowing Python to run normally without any syntax errors from Bash.
Sourcing this in bash (source my_program.py), the heredoc (<< _UNUSED_VAR) is a hack used to "comment out" the first-triple quote, which would otherwise be a syntax error. The script returns before reaching the second triple-quote, avoiding another syntax error. The export assigns the result of running my_program.py in Python from the correct directory (given by $(dirname $0)) to the environment variable MY_VAR. echo $MY_VAR prints the result on the command-line.
Example usage:
$ source my_program.py
Hello environment!
$ echo $MY_VAR
Hello environment!
However, the script will still do everything it did before except exporting, the environment variable if run normally:
$ ./my_program.py
Hello environment!
$ echo $MY_VAR
<-- Empty line

As noted by other authors, the memory is thrown away when the Python process exits. But during the python process, you can edit the running environment. For example:
>>> os.environ["foo"] = "bar"
>>> import subprocess
>>> subprocess.call(["printenv", "foo"])
bar
0
>>> os.environ["foo"] = "foo"
>>> subprocess.call(["printenv", "foo"])
foo
0

How to keep a changed python working directory [duplicate]

I'm trying to write a small script to change the current directory to my project directory:
#!/bin/bash
cd /home/tree/projects/java
I saved this file as proj, added execute permission with chmod, and copied it to /usr/bin. When I call it by:
proj, it does nothing. What am I doing wrong?

Shell scripts are run inside a subshell, and each subshell has its own concept of what the current directory is. The cd succeeds, but as soon as the subshell exits, you're back in the interactive shell and nothing ever changed there.
One way to get around this is to use an alias instead:
alias proj="cd /home/tree/projects/java"

You're doing nothing wrong! You've changed the directory, but only within the subshell that runs the script.
You can run the script in your current process with the "dot" command:
. proj
But I'd prefer Greg's suggestion to use an alias in this simple case.

The cd in your script technically worked as it changed the directory of the shell that ran the script, but that was a separate process forked from your interactive shell.
A Posix-compatible way to solve this problem is to define a shell procedure rather than a shell-invoked command script.
jhome () {
cd /home/tree/projects/java
}
You can just type this in or put it in one of the various shell startup files.

The cd is done within the script's shell. When the script ends, that shell exits, and then you are left in the directory you were. "Source" the script, don't run it. Instead of:
./myscript.sh
do
. ./myscript.sh
(Notice the dot and space before the script name.)

To make a bash script that will cd to a select directory :
Create the script file
#!/bin/sh
# file : /scripts/cdjava
#
cd /home/askgelal/projects/java
Then create an alias in your startup file.
#!/bin/sh
# file /scripts/mastercode.sh
#
alias cdjava='. /scripts/cdjava'
I created a startup file where I dump all my aliases and custom functions.
Then I source this file into my .bashrc to have it set on each boot.
For example, create a master aliases/functions file: /scripts/mastercode.sh
(Put the alias in this file.)
Then at the end of your .bashrc file:
source /scripts/mastercode.sh
Now its easy to cd to your java directory, just type cdjava and you are there.

You can use . to execute a script in the current shell environment:
. script_name
or alternatively, its more readable but shell specific alias source:
source script_name
This avoids the subshell, and allows any variables or builtins (including cd) to affect the current shell instead.

Jeremy Ruten's idea of using a symlink triggered a thought that hasn't crossed any other answer. Use:
CDPATH=:$HOME/projects
The leading colon is important; it means that if there is a directory 'dir' in the current directory, then 'cd dir' will change to that, rather than hopping off somewhere else. With the value set as shown, you can do:
cd java
and, if there is no sub-directory called java in the current directory, then it will take you directly to $HOME/projects/java - no aliases, no scripts, no dubious execs or dot commands.
My $HOME is /Users/jleffler; my $CDPATH is:
:/Users/jleffler:/Users/jleffler/mail:/Users/jleffler/src:/Users/jleffler/src/perl:/Users/jleffler/src/sqltools:/Users/jleffler/lib:/Users/jleffler/doc:/Users/jleffler/work

Use exec bash at the end
A bash script operates on its current environment or on that of its
children, but never on its parent environment.
However, this question often gets asked because one wants to be left at a (new) bash prompt in a certain directory after execution of a bash script from within another directory.
If this is the case, simply execute a child bash instance at the end of the script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
cd /home/tree/projects/java
echo -e '\nHit [Ctrl]+[D] to exit this child shell.'
exec bash
To return to the previous, parental bash instance, use Ctrl+D.
Update
At least with newer versions of bash, the exec on the last line is no longer required. Furthermore, the script could be made to work with whatever preferred shell by using the $SHELL environment variable. This then gives:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
cd desired/directory
echo -e '\nHit [Ctrl]+[D] to exit this child shell.'
$SHELL

I got my code to work by using. <your file name>
./<your file name> dose not work because it doesn't change your directory in the terminal it just changes the directory specific to that script.
Here is my program
#!/bin/bash
echo "Taking you to eclipse's workspace."
cd /Developer/Java/workspace
Here is my terminal
nova:~ Kael$
nova:~ Kael$ . workspace.sh
Taking you to eclipe's workspace.
nova:workspace Kael$

simply run:
cd /home/xxx/yyy && command_you_want

When you fire a shell script, it runs a new instance of that shell (/bin/bash). Thus, your script just fires up a shell, changes the directory and exits. Put another way, cd (and other such commands) within a shell script do not affect nor have access to the shell from which they were launched.

You can do following:
#!/bin/bash
cd /your/project/directory
# start another shell and replacing the current
exec /bin/bash
EDIT: This could be 'dotted' as well, to prevent creation of subsequent shells.
Example:
. ./previous_script (with or without the first line)

On my particular case i needed too many times to change for the same directory.
So on my .bashrc (I use ubuntu) i've added the
1 -
$ nano ~./bashrc
function switchp
{
cd /home/tree/projects/$1
}
2-
$ source ~/.bashrc
3 -
$ switchp java
Directly it will do: cd /home/tree/projects/java
Hope that helps!

It only changes the directory for the script itself, while your current directory stays the same.
You might want to use a symbolic link instead. It allows you to make a "shortcut" to a file or directory, so you'd only have to type something like cd my-project.

You can combine Adam & Greg's alias and dot approaches to make something that can be more dynamic—
alias project=". project"
Now running the project alias will execute the project script in the current shell as opposed to the subshell.

You can combine an alias and a script,
alias proj="cd \`/usr/bin/proj !*\`"
provided that the script echos the destination path. Note that those are backticks surrounding the script name.
For example, your script could be
#!/bin/bash
echo /home/askgelal/projects/java/$1
The advantage with this technique is that the script could take any number of command line parameters and emit different destinations calculated by possibly complex logic.

to navigate directories quicky, there's $CDPATH, cdargs, and ways to generate aliases automatically
http://jackndempsey.blogspot.com/2008/07/cdargs.html
http://muness.blogspot.com/2008/06/lazy-bash-cd-aliaes.html
https://web.archive.org/web/1/http://articles.techrepublic%2ecom%2ecom/5100-10878_11-5827311.html

In your ~/.bash_profile file. add the next function
move_me() {
cd ~/path/to/dest
}
Restart terminal and you can type
move_me
and you will be moved to the destination folder.

You can use the operator && :
cd myDirectory && ls

While sourcing the script you want to run is one solution, you should be aware that this script then can directly modify the environment of your current shell. Also it is not possible to pass arguments anymore.
Another way to do, is to implement your script as a function in bash.
function cdbm() {
cd whereever_you_want_to_go
echo "Arguments to the functions were $1, $2, ..."
}
This technique is used by autojump: http://github.com/joelthelion/autojump/wiki to provide you with learning shell directory bookmarks.

You can create a function like below in your .bash_profile and it will work smoothly.
The following function takes an optional parameter which is a project.
For example, you can just run
cdproj
or
cdproj project_name
Here is the function definition.
cdproj(){
dir=/Users/yourname/projects
if [ "$1" ]; then
cd "${dir}/${1}"
else
cd "${dir}"
fi
}
Dont forget to source your .bash_profile

This should do what you want. Change to the directory of interest (from within the script), and then spawn a new bash shell.
#!/bin/bash
# saved as mov_dir.sh
cd ~/mt/v3/rt_linux-rt-tools/
bash
If you run this, it will take you to the directory of interest and when you exit it it will bring you back to the original place.
root#intel-corei7-64:~# ./mov_dir.sh
root#intel-corei7-64:~/mt/v3/rt_linux-rt-tools# exit
root#intel-corei7-64:~#
This will even take you to back to your original directory when you exit (CTRL+d)

I did the following:
create a file called case
paste the following in the file:
#!/bin/sh
cd /home/"$1"
save it and then:
chmod +x case
I also created an alias in my .bashrc:
alias disk='cd /home/; . case'
now when I type:
case 12345
essentially I am typing:
cd /home/12345
You can type any folder after 'case':
case 12
case 15
case 17
which is like typing:
cd /home/12
cd /home/15
cd /home/17
respectively
In my case the path is much longer - these guys summed it up with the ~ info earlier.

As explained on the other answers, you have changed the directory, but only within the sub-shell that runs the script. this does not impact the parent shell.
One solution is to use bash functions instead of a bash script (sh); by placing your bash script code into a function. That makes the function available as a command and then, this will be executed without a child process and thus any cd command will impact the caller shell.
Bash functions :
One feature of the bash profile is to store custom functions that can be run in the terminal or in bash scripts the same way you run application/commands this also could be used as a shortcut for long commands.
To make your function efficient system widely you will need to copy your function at the end of several files
/home/user/.bashrc
/home/user/.bash_profile
/root/.bashrc
/root/.bash_profile
You can sudo kwrite /home/user/.bashrc /home/user/.bash_profile /root/.bashrc /root/.bash_profile to edit/create those files quickly
Howto :
Copy your bash script code inside a new function at the end of your bash's profile file and restart your terminal, you can then run cdd or whatever the function you wrote.
Script Example
Making shortcut to cd .. with cdd
cdd() {
cd ..
}
ls shortcut
ll() {
ls -l -h
}
ls shortcut
lll() {
ls -l -h -a
}

If you are using fish as your shell, the best solution is to create a function. As an example, given the original question, you could copy the 4 lines below and paste them into your fish command line:
function proj
cd /home/tree/projects/java
end
funcsave proj
This will create the function and save it for use later. If your project changes, just repeat the process using the new path.
If you prefer, you can manually add the function file by doing the following:
nano ~/.config/fish/functions/proj.fish
and enter the text:
function proj
cd /home/tree/projects/java
end
and finally press ctrl+x to exit and y followed by return to save your changes.
(NOTE: the first method of using funcsave creates the proj.fish file for you).

You need no script, only set the correct option and create an environment variable.
shopt -s cdable_vars
in your ~/.bashrc allows to cd to the content of environment variables.
Create such an environment variable:
export myjava="/home/tree/projects/java"
and you can use:
cd myjava
Other alternatives.

Note the discussion How do I set the working directory of the parent process?
It contains some hackish answers, e.g.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/2375174/755804 (changing the parent process directory via gdb, don't do this) and https://stackoverflow.com/a/51985735/755804 (the command tailcd that injects cd dirname to the input stream of the parent process; well, ideally it should be a part of bash rather than a hack)

It is an old question, but I am really surprised I don't see this trick here
Instead of using cd you can use
export PWD=the/path/you/want
No need to create subshells or use aliases.
Note that it is your responsibility to make sure the/path/you/want exists.

I have to work in tcsh, and I know this is not an elegant solution, but for example, if I had to change folders to a path where one word is different, the whole thing can be done in the alias
a alias_name 'set a = `pwd`; set b = `echo $a | replace "Trees" "Tests"` ; cd $b'
If the path is always fixed, the just
a alias_name2 'cd path/you/always/need'
should work
In the line above, the new folder path is set

This combines the answer by Serge with an unrelated answer by David. It changes the directory, and then instead of forcing a bash shell, it launches the user's default shell. It however requires both getent and /etc/passwd to detect the default shell.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
cd desired/directory
USER_SHELL=$(getent passwd <USER> | cut -d : -f 7)
$USER_SHELL
Of course this still has the same deficiency of creating a nested shell.

Launch configured cmd from Python

I'm on Windows. I am trying to write a Python 2.x script (let's call it setup.py) which would enable the following scenario:
User runs cmd to open a console window
In that console window, user runs setup.py
User finds themselves in the same console window, but now the cmd running there has had its environment (env. variables) modified by setup.py
setup.py modifies the environment by adding a new environment variable FOO with value foo, and by preneding something to PATH.
On Linux, I would simply use os.exec*e to replace the Python process with a shell with the environment configured.
I tried the same approach on Windows (like os.exec*e(os.environ['ComSpec'])), but it doesn't work, the environment of the newly executed cmd is messed up like this:
Running just set doesn't list FOO and doesn't show the effect on PATH. Running set FOO, however, shows FOO=foo, and echo %FOO% echoes foo.
Running set PATH or echo %PATH% shows the modified PATH variable. Running set path or echo %path% shows the value without the modification (even though env. vars are normally case insensitive on Windows).
If I type exit, the conole remains hanging in some state not accepting input, until I hit Ctrl+C. After that, it apparently returns to the cmd which originally called setup.py.
So clearly, os.exec*e doesn't work for this scenario on Windows. Is there a different way to achieve what I want? Is there a combination of subprocess.Popen() flags which would enable me to exit the calling Python process and leave the called cmd runnig, ideally in the same console? Or would accessing CreateProcess through ctypes help?
If necessary, I would settle for launching a new console window and closing the old one, but I certainly can't afford having the old console window hang in frozen state, waiting for a newly created one to close.

There's a much simpler solution if it's acceptable to use a Windows batch file in addition to your script, since the batch file runs in the calling process, and can therefore modify its environment.
Given a file setup.bat, which looks like this...
#echo off
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('python setup.py') do %%a
...and a file setup.py which looks like this...
import os
print 'set FOO=foo'
print 'set PATH=%s;%s' % ('C:\\my_path_dir', os.environ['PATH'])
...and assuming python.exe in in the PATH, then calling setup.bat from the command line will set the environment variables in the calling process, while still allowing you to make the setup.py script as complicated as you like, as long as it prints the commands you want to execute to stdout.
Update based on comments
If your setup.py has multiple modes of operation, you could make the setup.bat a generic wrapper for it. Suppose instead setup.bat looks like this...
#echo off
if "%1" == "setenv" (
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('python setup.py %1') do %%a
) else (
python setup.py %*
)
...and setup.py looks like this...
import sys
import os
if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'setenv':
print 'set FOO=foo'
print 'set PATH=%s;%s' % ('C:\\my_path_dir', os.environ['PATH'])
else:
print "I'm gonna do something else with argv=%r" % sys.argv
...would that not suffice?

How to use export with Python on Linux

I need to make an export like this in Python :
# export MY_DATA="my_export"
I've tried to do :
# -*- python-mode -*-
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import os
os.system('export MY_DATA="my_export"')
But when I list export, "MY_DATA" not appear :
# export
How I can do an export with Python without saving "my_export" into a file ?

export is a command that you give directly to the shell (e.g. bash), to tell it to add or modify one of its environment variables. You can't change your shell's environment from a child process (such as Python), it's just not possible.
Here's what's happening when you try os.system('export MY_DATA="my_export"')...
/bin/bash process, command `python yourscript.py` forks python subprocess
|_
/usr/bin/python process, command `os.system()` forks /bin/sh subprocess
|_
/bin/sh process, command `export ...` changes its local environment
When the bottom-most /bin/sh subprocess finishes running your export ... command, then it's discarded, along with the environment that you have just changed.

You actually want to do
import os
os.environ["MY_DATA"] = "my_export"

Another way to do this, if you're in a hurry and don't mind the hacky-aftertaste, is to execute the output of the python script in your bash environment and print out the commands to execute setting the environment in python. Not ideal but it can get the job done in a pinch. It's not very portable across shells, so YMMV.
$(python -c 'print "export MY_DATA=my_export"')
(you can also enclose the statement in backticks in some shells ``)

Not that simple:
python -c "import os; os.putenv('MY_DATA','1233')"
$ echo $MY_DATA # <- empty
But:
python -c "import os; os.putenv('MY_DATA','123'); os.system('bash')"
$ echo $MY_DATA #<- 123

I have an excellent answer.
#! /bin/bash
output=$(git diff origin/master..origin/develop | \
python -c '
# DO YOUR HACKING
variable1_to_be_exported="Yo Yo"
variable2_to_be_exported="Honey Singh"
… so on
magic=""
magic+="export onShell-var1=\""+str(variable1_to_be_exported)+"\"\n"
magic+="export onShell-var2=\""+str(variable2_to_be_exported)+"\""
print magic
'
)
eval "$output"
echo "$onShell-var1" // Output will be Yo Yo
echo "$onShell-var2" // Output will be Honey Singh
Mr Alex Tingle is correct about those processes and sub-process stuffs
How it can be achieved is like the above I have mentioned.
Key Concept is :
Whatever printed from python will be stored in the variable in the catching variable in bash [output]
We can execute any command in the form of string using eval
So, prepare your print output from python in a meaningful bash commands
use eval to execute it in bash
And you can see your results
NOTE
Always execute the eval using double quotes or else bash will mess up your \ns and outputs will be strange
PS: I don't like bash but your have to use it

I've had to do something similar on a CI system recently. My options were to do it entirely in bash (yikes) or use a language like python which would have made programming the logic much simpler.
My workaround was to do the programming in python and write the results to a file.
Then use bash to export the results.
For example:
# do calculations in python
with open("./my_export", "w") as f:
f.write(your_results)
# then in bash
export MY_DATA="$(cat ./my_export)"
rm ./my_export # if no longer needed

You could try os.environ["MY_DATA"] instead.

Kind of a hack because it's not really python doing anything special here, but if you run the export command in the same sub-shell, you will probably get the result you want.
import os
cmd = "export MY_DATA='1234'; echo $MY_DATA" # or whatever command
os.system(cmd)

In the hope of providing clarity over common cinfusion...
I have written many python <--> bash <--> elfbin toolchains and the proper way to see it is such as this:
Each process (originator) has a state of the environment inherited from whatever invoked it. Any change remains lokal to that process. Transfering an environment state is a function by itself and runs in two directions, each with it's own caveats. The most common thing is to modify environment before running a sub-process. To go down to the metal, look at the exec() - call in C. There is a variant that takes a pointer to environment data. This is the only actually supported transfer of environment in typical OS'es.
Shell scripts will create a state to pass when running children when you do an export. Otherwise it just uses that which it got in the first place.
In all other cases it will be some generic mechanism used to pass a set of data to allow the calling process itself to update it's environment based on the result of the child-processes output.
Ex:
ENVUPDATE = $(CMD_THAT_OUTPUTS_KEYVAL_LISTS)
echo $ENVUPDATE > $TMPFILE
source $TMPFILE
The same can of course be done using json, xml or other things as long as you have the tools to interpret and apply.
The need for this may be (50% chance) a sign of misconstruing the basic primitives and that you need a better config or parameter interchange in your solution.....
Oh, in python I would do something like...
(need improvement depending on your situation)
import re
RE_KV=re.compile('([a-z][\w]*)\s*=\s*(.*)')
OUTPUT=RunSomething(...) (Assuming 'k1=v1 k2=v2')
for kv in OUTPUT.split(' ')
try:
k,v=RE_KV.match(kv).groups()
os.environ[k]=str(v)
except:
#The not a property case...
pass

One line solution:
eval `python -c 'import sysconfig;print("python_include_path={0}".format(sysconfig.get_path("include")))'`
echo $python_include_path # prints /home/<usr>/anaconda3/include/python3.6m" in my case
Breakdown:
Python call
python -c 'import sysconfig;print("python_include_path={0}".format(sysconfig.get_path("include")))'
It's launching a python script that
imports sysconfig
gets the python include path corresponding to this python binary (use "which python" to see which one is being used)
prints the script "python_include_path={0}" with {0} being the path from 2
Eval call
eval `python -c 'import sysconfig;print("python_include_path={0}".format(sysconfig.get_path("include")))'`
It's executing in the current bash instance the output from the python script. In my case, its executing:
python_include_path=/home/<usr>/anaconda3/include/python3.6m
In other words, it's setting the environment variable "python_include_path" with that path for this shell instance.
Inspired by:
http://blog.tintoy.io/2017/06/exporting-environment-variables-from-python-to-bash/

import os
import shlex
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
os.environ.update(key=value)
res = Popen(shlex.split("cmd xxx -xxx"), stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE,
env=os.environ, shell=True).communicate('y\ny\ny\n'.encode('utf8'))
stdout = res[0]
stderr = res[1]

os.system ('/home/user1/exportPath.ksh')
exportPath.ksh:
export PATH=MY_DATA="my_export"