Please help me understand

[DrD]

Regarding: ab:=solve(x^2-3=1,x)

If I enter the above expression directly in the command line on the CAS page, I get an expected list, {-2,2.} for this example.

If I try this programmatically I get an unexpected list, {x}:
EXPORT ab,x;
EXPORT dmy()
BEGIN
ab:=solve(x^2-3=1,x);
print(ab);
return ab;
END;

If I try this programmatically I get an unexpected, 0 value.
EXPORT ab,x;
EXPORT dmy()
BEGIN
ab=solve(x^2-3=1,x); // <---Replaced ":=" with just "=" here
print(ab);
return ab;
END;

What program operation similar to ab:=solve(x^2-3=1,x) will return the list {-2,2.}, as if directly input on the CAS command line? I've tried several approaches, including appending CAS.solve(..), no success yet, though.

Thanks, I'm still climbing the learning curve!

-Dale-