Using Dotenv in PHP

Video is in Swedish

Introducing PHP Dotenv: A Simple Way to Load Environment Variables  

As developers, we often find ourselves working on projects that require loading environment variables from files or other sources. This can be a tedious and error-prone process, especially when dealing with complex configurations. That’s where PHP Dotenv comes in – a lightweight and easy-to-use library that simplifies the process of loading environment variables.

What is PHP Dotenv?  

PHP Dotenv is an open-source library written in PHP that allows you to load environment variables from .env files into your PHP application. It was created by Benjamin Eberlei and has become a popular choice among developers due to its simplicity and flexibility.

How does it work?  

To use PHP Dotenv, you simply need to install the library via Composer (the popular PHP package manager) and then create a .env file in the root of your project. This file contains key-value pairs that define your environment variables, such as database credentials or API keys.

Once you’ve created your .env file, you can load the environment variables into your PHP application using the Dotenv class. Here’s an example:

use Dotenv\Dotenv;

$dotenv = new Dotenv();
$dotenv->load();

// Now you can access your environment variables like this:
$db_host = $_ENV['DB_HOST'];
$db_username = $_ENV['DB_USERNAME'];

Benefits of using PHP Dotenv  

There are several benefits to using PHP Dotenv:

• Simplified configuration: With Dotenv, you don’t need to worry about hardcoding sensitive information like database credentials or API keys into your code. Instead, you can store them in a secure .env file.  

• Easy deployment: When deploying your application, you can simply copy the .env file to the production environment and Dotenv will load the variables automatically.  

• Flexibility: Dotenv supports multiple environments (e.g., development, staging, production) by allowing you to specify different .env files for each environment.  

Conclusion  

PHP Dotenv is a simple yet powerful library that makes it easy to manage environment variables in your PHP applications. By using Dotenv, you can simplify your configuration process, improve security, and make your code more maintainable. Give it a try today and see how it can streamline your development workflow!

Video  

Sourcecode