Ksh93 allows you to source a file or a function into local scope. Other shells support sourcing a file but ksh93 is the only shell that I am aware of that allows you to also invoke a function with the source command.
From the KSH93 manpage:
. name [ arg ... ]
If name is a function defined with the function name reserved
word syntax, the function is executed in the current environment
(as if it had been defined with the name() syntax.) Otherwise
if name refers to a file, the file is read in its entirety and
the commands are executed in the current shell environment. The
search path specified by PATH is used to find the directory conâ€
taining the file. If any arguments arg are given, they become
the positional parameters while processing the . command and
the original positional parameters are restored upon completion.
Otherwise the positional parameters are unchanged. The exit
status is the exit status of the last command executed.
Here is a simple shell script which demonstrates the functionality:
#!/bin/ksh
{
printf "Function testme invokedn"
var=testme
}
. testme
echo $var
exit 0
