Escape cron job definition when exporting env variables along with xargs

Question

I'm trying to write a script that requires to export some env variables by reading the values and names from an .env file.

Here's an example of the .env file:

INSTANCE_PROFILE_ARN=arn:aws:iam::1234567890:instance-profile/development-west
SERVICE_NAME=reports
PIPELINE_CRON='0 0 0/6 * * ?'

And in the script.sh file I'm exporting the variables using the following code:

if [ -f "./.env" ]; then
  echo "** Using data from .env file **"
  export $(cat .env | xargs)
fi;

But I'm getting this error:

➜ ./script.sh
./script.sh: line 5: export: `0': not a valid identifier
./script.sh: line 5: export: `0/6': not a valid identifier
./script.sh: line 5: export: `README.md': not a valid identifier
./script.sh: line 5: export: `demo.py': not a valid identifier
./script.sh: line 5: export: `script.sh': not a valid identifier
./script.sh: line 5: export: `?': not a valid identifier
PIPELINE_CRON=0

I've been testing some solutions I found in other post but is not working.

Using the -d '\n' option will not work as I am working on macOS:

➜ xargs -d
xargs: illegal option -- d
usage: xargs [-0opt] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr [-R replacements] [-S replsize]]
             [-J replstr] [-L number] [-n number [-x]] [-P maxprocs]
             [-s size] [utility [argument ...]]

Answer 1

If I'm understanding your requirement correctly, you may want to say:

if [[ -f ".env" ]]; then
    echo "** Using data from .env file **"
    set -a                              # set "allexport" option
    source ".env"                       # the variables are exported
    set +a                              # reset "allexport" option
fi

# export -p                             # uncomment to see exported variables