awk: setting environment variables directly from within an awk script

first post here, but been a lurker for ages. i have googled for ages, but cant find what i want (many abigious topic subjects which dont request what the topic suggests it does ...). not new to awk or scripting, just a little rusty :) i'm trying to write an awk script which will set shell env values as it runs - for another bash script to pick up and use later on. i cannot simply use stdout from awk to report this value i want setting (i.e. "export whatever=`awk cmd here`"), as thats already directed to a 'results file' which the awkscript is creating (plus i have more than one variable to export in the final code anyway). As an example test script, to demo my issue: ``` echo $MYSCRIPT_RESULT # returns nothing, not currently set echo | awk -f scriptfile.awk # do whatever, setting MYSCRIPT_RESULT as we go echo $MYSCRIPT_RESULT # desired: returns the env value set in scriptfile.awk ``` within scriptfile.awk, i have tried (without sucess) 1/) building and executing an adhoc string directly: ``` { cmdline="export MYSCRIPT_RESULT=1" cmdline } ``` 2/) using the system function: ``` { cmdline="export MYSCRIPT_RESULT=1" system(cmdline) } ``` ... but these do not work. I suspect that these 2 commands are creating a subshell within the shell awk is executing from, and doing what i ask (proven by touching files as a test), but once the "cmd"/system calls have completed, the subshell dies, unfortunatley taking whatever i have set with it - so my env setting changes dont stick from "the caller of awk"'s perspective. so my question is, how do you actually set env variables within awk directly, so that a calling process can access these env values after awk execution has completed? is it actually possible? other than the adhoc/system ways above, which i have proven fail for me, i cannot see how this could be done (other than writing these values to a 'random' file somewhere to be picked up and read by the calling script, which imo is a little dirty anyway), hence, help! all ideas/suggestions/comments welcomed!