Prefix any command with dotenv to load environment variables from a file named .env in the current directory.

dotenv sh -c 'echo $MY_VAR'

Alternatively put dotenv in the shebang line of a script to automatically load environment variables.

#!/usr/bin/env -S dotenv bash
echo $MY_VAR

dotenv is a tiny, self-contained utility.

This README file contains the installation instructions and the manpage for the dotenv utility.

dotenv can be installed on a Unix-like system with a C compiler and make installed by running the following commands:

make
sudo make install

This will install the dotenv binary to /usr/local/bin, and the manpage to /usr/local/share/man/man1.

DOTENV(1) - General Commands Manual

dotenv - load environment variables from a file

dotenv program ...

The dotenv utility reads a file (by default .env in the current directory) and loads the environment variables from it. It then executes the specified program with the loaded environment variables. If no dotenv file is found, it will execute the program with the current environment.

DOTENV_PATH

The path to the dotenv file. If not set, the default path is .env in the current directory.

DOTENV_CONFIG_PATH

Same as DOTENV_PATH for compatibility with the original nodejs dotenv implementation.

Run the env(1) command with the environment variables loaded from the .env file in the current directory:

$ dotenv env

Same as above but with a custom dotenv file path:

$ DOTENV_PATH=.env2 dotenv env

Use dotenv in the shebang line of a script:

#!/usr/bin/env -S dotenv bash
echo $MY_VAR

The file format is a list of key-value pairs, one per line. The key and value are separated by an equal sign. Whitespaces around keys and values are ignored. A line is terminated by a newline character or a carriage return. Comments can be added using a hash sign (#) either at the start of a line or inline. For values that contain a hash sign, the value must be quoted. Values can be optionally quoted with single or double quotes. If quoted, the following escape sequences are supported:

\n

A newline.

\r

A carriage return.

\t

A tab.

\'

A single quote.

\"

A double quote.

\\

A backslash.

env(1)

Yifan Gu <me@yifangu.com>

Unknown OS - April 28, 2024