Here’s a slightly more compact version that uses more zsh powerz:

grabvars()
{
for x in SSH_AGENT_PID SSH_AUTH_SOCK DISPLAY; do
echo “export $x=’${(P)x:q}’”
done >$VARSLOC
}

sourcevars()
{
[ -f $VARSLOC ] && source $VARSLOC
}

The differences are:
1) I inlined the variable names inside the loop. I didn’t need the temporary “$VARS” variable, but if I did I would use an array (“VARS=(SSH_AGENT_PID SSH_AUTH_SOCK DISPLAY)”) instead of a string so I could save the “$(echo …)” part.
2) I used a single echo—no point in creating then parsing the string again. Zsh’s smart (P) Expansion Flag does exactly what we want.
3) Just for completeness I threw in the ‘q’ Parameter Expansion flag so that it would escape a theoretical space/quote/etc.
4) No need to say “1>”, since 1 is STDOUT, and that’s the default for “>”.
5) Used the more idiomatic “[ -f ... ] && ____” form.

Just some thoughts—Really I’m only tinkering for the fun of it. The overall solution is a smart one, and I wasn’t thinking of it on my own.

Thank you.
-rjk