README

PHP dotenv extension for vlucas/phpdotenv to load .env variables from include files.

How & Why?

This package works as an add-on to the great vlucas/phpdotenv. When .env files start to get large it could be convenient to separate variables out into smaller pieces. This helps solve that problem.

NB: If you're new to the idea of a .env file, I recommend you start by checking out vlucas/phpdotenv first.

Installation

composer.json:

"require": {
    "etelford/phpdotenv-include-extension": "0.1.*"
}

Example

Create your .env file as usual, but where you want to separate out sections of it, use an include.

# in your root .env
APP_NAME="My app"
DATABASE_INCLUDE=".database.env"

# .database.env
NAME=mydb
USERNAME=root
PASSWORD=s3cr3t
PORT=3306

When you want to retrieve an env variable from an include file, create an instance of Etelford\Dotenv and then retrieve the variables using whichever method you normally use to include environment variables:

# Be sure to include your autoloader
$dotenv = new Etelford\Dotenv(__DIR__);
$dotenv->load();

echo getenv('DATABASE_NAME'); // mydb
echo $_ENV('DATABASE_USERNAME'); // root
echo $_SERVER('DATABASE_PASSWORD'); // s3cr3t
echo env('DATABASE_PORT'); // 3306

As you can see, the variables in an include file become namespaced. In the example above, .database.env is included by using a namespace (DATABASE) followed by and underscore (_) and the word INCLUDE.

Using With Laravel 5.x

If you'd like to use this with the Laravel framework, open your bootstrap/app.php and add the following after the application is initially created:

// This creates the application
$app = new Illuminate\Foundation\Application(
    realpath(__DIR__.'/../')
);

// Add this to enable .env includes
$dotenv = new Etelford\Dotenv($app->environmentPath());
$dotenv->load();

That's it! Now you can use included .env files as much as you like.

Conventions

The path of an include is always relative to your root .env file.
You declare that a variable points to an include file using the _INCLUDE keyword. If you wish to override this you can with the third argument when you create the Dotenv class: $dotenv = new Etelford\Dotenv(__DIR__, '.env', 'PATH'); Note that the _ should not be provided if you use this customization.

Caveat

This package will not work as a command line script.

etelford / phpdotenv-include-extension

Maintainers

Details