KSH .profile problem - Why doesn't this work and how to make it work?

[Jeffrey B Nicholson]

My .profile has a really long export line because I have quite a few variables
that I wish to export.  As far as I can tell, it's legal to say:

var1=value1
var2=value2
..
varN=valueN
export var1 var2 .. varN

Or you could just say:

export var1=value1 var2=value2 .. varN=valueN

Correct?

Well, I have a problem with this assignment:

export LESS=wh`expr ${LINES} - 2`x8b10

Here, I am trying to calculate ${LINES} - 2 and stick that result immediately
after the "wh".  As such, it causes a syntax error when I login and I can't
find the problem.

One thing I've tried is putting the whole line as the argument of an eval, so
it reads:

eval export LESS=wh`expr ${LINES} - 2`x8b10

but that causes:

${HOME:-.}/.profile[2]: jeffo: cannot open

when I login.  The huge export line is the second line of my .profile.

When I execute LESS=wh`expr ${LINES} - 2`x8b10 on the command line, it works
like a charm.  Also, if I export that definition (just toss an export in front
of that) it works fine.  I don't understand why it wouldn't work in my
.profile.

Can anyone help?  Thanks in advance.

Jeff
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