How to set an environment variable in github actions

Question

It should be possible to update the environment variable using commands like

echo "uploadArtifacts = '${{ inputs.uploadArtifacts}}'" >> $GITHUB_ENV However, it doesn't seem to be working for my example below, run: echo ${{ env.uploadArtifacts }} always evaluate to false

name: Example
on:
 workflow_dispatch:
 inputs:
 runTests:
 description: run tests
 required: true
 default: true
 type: Boolean
 uploadArtifacts:
 description: upload artifacts 
 required: true
 default: true
 type: Boolean
 push:
 branches:
 - main
 
env:
 runTests: 'true'
 uploadArtifacts: 'false'
jobs:
 Build_Job:
 runs-on: [self-hosted]
 steps:
 - name: Sets env vars for manual run
 if: ${{ inputs.uploadArtifacts}}
 run: |-
 echo "uploadArtifacts = '${{ inputs.uploadArtifacts}}'" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "runTests = '${{ inputs.runTests}}'" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 - name: Echo uploadArtifacts 
 run: echo ${{ env.uploadArtifacts }}

The logs from the github actions

**Sets env vars for manual run**
Run echo "uploadArtifacts = 'true'" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "uploadArtifacts = 'true'" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "runTests = 'false'" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 shell: C:\Program Files\PowerShell7円\pwsh.EXE -command ". '{0}'"
 env:
 runTests: true
 uploadArtifacts: false
 
**Echo uploadArtifacts **
Run echo false
 echo false
 shell: C:\Program Files\PowerShell7円\pwsh.EXE -command ". '{0}'"
 env:
 runTests: true
 uploadArtifacts: false
 
false

Answer 1

It can look silly, but try removing the extra spaces inside the echo string, instead of: echo "uploadArtifacts = '${{ inputs.uploadArtifacts }}'" >> $GITHUB_ENV do echo "uploadArtifacts='${{ inputs.uploadArtifacts }}'" >> $GITHUB_ENV. I would also remove the quotes for the value, to make it true instead of 'true'. That will convert it in a real boolean, otherwise it will be treated as a string.

• resp78: also on windows we need to do $env:GITHUB_ENV