bteq question

gistfile1.txt

goal is to set an environment variable to the result of a teradata query

-bash-3.1$ cat test_bteq.cmd 
.logon xxx.yyy.zzz.bbb/username,password
select count(*) from sql_class.orders;
.QUIT


I would like to know if its possible to do something like this

export ORDERS_COUNT=`cat test_bteq.cmd|bteq`

and $ORDERS_COUNT would be the result of select count(*) From sql_class.orders;

In a shell script:

bteq <<EOBTQ

.LOGON xxx.yyy.zzz.bbb/username,password

.SET TITLEDASHES OFF

.OS rm test.exp

.EXPORT REPORT FILE=test.exp

SELECT COUNT(*) (TITLE '')
FROM DBC.DBCInfo;

.EXPORT RESET

.SET TITLEDASHES ON

.QUIT ERRORLEVEL;

EOBTQ

export ORDERS_COUNT=$(cat test.exp)
echo $ORDERS_COUNT

EOF

It's kind of a cheat having to dump the COUNT(*) to a flat file, but I think it is the only way to get BTEQ to interact with the external environment.