Avris

.env file handler

Instalation

composer require avris/dotenv

.env

Environmental variables are a great way to adjust your application to a specific environment, especially when it comes to sensitive data, like database password.

Those variables should be set by your HTTP server, but for local development having a .env file is way simpler:

APP_ENV=prod
APP_DEBUG=0

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=prod
DB_USER=user
DB_PASS=pass

All you need to do in your front controller is load this file using Dotenv:

(new \Avris\Dotenv\Dotenv)->load(__DIR__ . '/../.env');

Now all the variables from the file will be available via getenv, $_ENV and $_SERVER.

Advanced

If your variable value contains a space, remember to quote it:

FOO="Lorem ipsum"

You can add a comment if you start a line with a #:

# comment
FOO=bar

You can use vars inside other vars (escape $ with \$):

VAR1=osiem
VAR2="${VAR1}naście ${CZEGO}"
VAR3=\$ESC

You can also use output of a command (symfony/process is required, escape $ with \$):

COMM1=$(whoami)
COMM2=\$(whoami)

Remember .env is a valid bash script.

Other features

You can just read the variables from a file without populating it as environment variables:

$vars = (new \Avris\Dotenv\Dotenv)->read(__DIR__ . '/../.env');

Or just populate vars into environment without parsing a file:

(new \Avris\Dotenv\Dotenv)->populate([
    'FOO' => 'foo',
    'BAR' => 'bar',
]);

You can also rever the process and dump vars into a .env file:

(new \Avris\Dotenv\Dotenv)->save(__DIR__ . '/.env', [
    'FOO' => 'foo',
    'BAR' => 'bar',
]);

Or without saving to a file:

$string = (new \Avris\Dotenv\Dotenv)->dump([
    'FOO' => 'foo',
    'BAR' => 'bar',
]);

Fill command

Dotenv provides a simple way to fill your .env file with values based on user input and defaults.

Let's say you have an application with two modules that require some environment variables: Foo\Database and Foo\Mailer. Install symfony/console and create a command that extends Avris\Dotenv\Command\FillCommand, providing all the defaults:

final class FillCommandImplementation extends \Avris\Dotenv\Command\FillCommand
{
    protected function getDefaults(): iterable
    {
        yield `Foo\Database` => [
            'DB_HOST' => '127.0.0.1',
            'DB_DATABASE' => 'foo',
            'DB_USER' => 'root',
            'DB_PASS' => '',
        ]; 
        yield `Foo\Mailer` => [
            'MAILER_URL' => 'null://localhost',
        ];
    }
}

Let’s say your .env file looks like this:

###> Foo\Database ###
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=prod
DB_USER=user
###< Foo\Database ###

FOO=bar

Both DB_PASS and MAILER_URL are missing and an additional variable FOO is defined.

If you now run the command, you will be asked what should DB_PASS and MAILER_URL be (defaults '' and null://localhost are offered), and the values you submit will be put in the .env file without removing FOO.