How to execute the output of a command within the current shell?

Question

I\'m well aware of the source (aka .) utility, which will take the contents from a file and execute them within the current shell.

Now, I\'

Answer 1

$ ls | sed ... | source /dev/stdin

UPDATE: This works in bash 4.0, as well as tcsh, and dash (if you change source to .). Apparently this was buggy in bash 3.2. From the bash 4.0 release notes:

Fixed a bug that caused `.' to fail to read and execute commands from non-regular files such as devices or named pipes.