how to set environment variable to current date, epoch format?

[mattkime]

i'm writing a script which will be triggered each time a file is dropped into a folder. I'd like the script to set an environment variable to the current date/time in epoch format.

export timeElapsed=123456767

will save the var

date +%s

will provide a time value in integer format.

how to combine the two lines?

[Seacrest]

surround the date command in ``, I think.

[Seacrest]

export myTime=`date +%s`;

echo $myTime;