Why Isn’t My Variable Updating in This While Loop Function?

I had a similar issue once. It turned out to be a matter of how I structured my script. By renaming `get_battery_status` to something like `print_battery_status` and just printing the output, I avoided the subshell problem. It's also good practice to pass data between functions without using the output if you can manage it that way!

Are you absolutely sure nothing else in your script is affecting it? I ran a simplified version of your script, and it seemed to work fine. Maybe there's a piece in the full script that’s causing `get_battery_status` to run in a subshell somewhere else?

You might want to check how you're capturing the battery status. In your while loop, when you use `battery_status=$(get_battery_status)`, it runs `get_battery_status` in a subshell. This means any changes made to `BATTERY_ALERT_STATE` inside that function won't affect the main shell. Instead of outputting `battery_status`, you could directly modify global variables in your function or just print the battery status without capturing it.

Just a heads up, consider making `AC_PATH` readonly too. It’s good coding practice if it doesn’t need to change throughout the script. Also, if you're using conditionals, defining your functions in those blocks can help keep everything organized.