I have 2 workflows. One is calling the other.

name: call other workflow

on:
  push

jobs:

  #------------------------------------
  prep:
    name: prep
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      sha:
        ${{ steps.short-sha.outputs.sha }}
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/[email protected]
        with:
          submodules: recursive
      - name: Short-Sha
        uses: benjlevesque/[email protected]
        id: short-sha
        with:
          length: 8
      - name: print SHA
        run: echo $SHA
        env:
          SHA: ${{ env.SHA }}

  #------------------------------------
  print-sha:
    name: print-sha
    needs: [ prep ]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: print SHA
        run: echo $SHA
        env:
          SHA: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.sha }}

  #------------------------------------
  call-other-workflow:
    name: call-other-workflow
    needs: [ print-sha ]
    uses: ./.github/workflows/other_workflow.yml
    with:
      commit-hash: "*c@ller*"
#      commit-hash: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.sha }}

The above workflow is calling this one:

name: other workflow

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      commit-hash:        
        type: string
        required: true
        default: "d3faultX"

jobs:

  #------------------------------------
  prep:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: print SHA
        run: echo "${{ inputs.commit-hash }}"

As you can see I want to pass the commit hash through. As the code is, it is just passing through a hardcoded string. That works. As soon as I exchange that for the reference to the SHA, it does not work any more. Why? I’ve put in other print steps to see I have a valid reference, etc. But I still cannot work out why this is not working.