How can we concatenate multiple env vars at workflow and job level?

[adamrushuk]

I’m trying to concatenate a Workflow env var (PREFIX) with other Workflow and Job env vars, but it looks like I can only concatenate within the Step scope.

Using Jenkins I could do this:

environment {
    PREFIX = "rush"
    ACR_FQDN = "${PREFIX}.azurecr.io"
}

Here is my failing example Workflow:

name: test
on: [push]
env:
this works
MY_WORKFLOW_VAR: work
this does NOT work
MY_OTHER_WORKFLOW_VAR: ${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-value01
jobs:

build:
runs-on: windows-2019

env:
  # this works
  MY_JOB_VAR: job
  # this does NOT work
  MY_WORK_JOB_VAR: ${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-somejob01

steps:
- name: Output event data
  env:
    MY_STEP_VAR: step
    # this works
    MY_OTHER_STEP_VAR: ${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-somevalue01
  run: |
    # Env var concatenation
    Write-Output "MY_WORKFLOW_VAR is: [$env:MY_WORKFLOW_VAR]"
    Write-Output "MY_JOB_VAR is: [$env:MY_JOB_VAR]"
    Write-Output "MY_STEP_VAR is: [$env:MY_STEP_VAR]"
    Write-Output "MY_WORK_JOB_VAR is: [$env:MY_WORK_JOB_VAR]"
    Write-Output "MY_OTHER_STEP_VAR is: [$env:MY_OTHER_STEP_VAR]"

Currently, if I want to use concatenated env vars across multiple steps, I have to repeat the Step level env var definitions like so:

- name: Step 1
      run: pwsh -command "./scripts/step1.ps1"
      env:
        MY_STEP_VAR: ${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-001
        MY_OTHER_STEP_VAR: ${{ env.MY_OTHER_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-002
- name: Step 2
  run: pwsh -command "./scripts/step1.ps1"
  env:
    MY_STEP_VAR: ${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-001
    MY_OTHER_STEP_VAR: ${{ env.MY_OTHER_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-002

Is there a way to concatenate env vars higher up, in Workflow or Job scope?

[weide-zhou]

Hi @adamrushuk ,

The worklfow&job level env doesn’t support variable expression, hence cannot concatenate other workflow/job env vars. Currently it’s only supported for step level env.

You don’t need to repeat step level env definition, you can use ‘set-env’ to create and update env variable for any actions running next in a job. Code sample as below:

name: my workflow
on: push
env:
  MY_WORKFLOW_VAR: work
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Set env
      run: echo ::set-env name=STEPVAR::${{ env.MY_WORKFLOW_VAR }}-somestep
    - name: Test
      run: echo $STEPVAR

Thanks.

[adamrushuk]

Thanks for the workaround weide-zhou; this works perfectly!