What occurs when a file is `source`-d in Unix/Linux context?

Question

I\'ve seen shell scripts that include a line such as:

source someOtherFile

I know that causes the content of someOtherFile to

Answer 1

source is a Unix command that evaluates the file following the command, as a list of commands, executed in the current context. You can also use . for sourcing the file.

source my-script.sh;
. my-script.sh;

Both commands will have the same effect.

In contrast, passing the script filename to the desired shell will run the script in a subshell, not the current context.