DEV Community

Discussion on: Various ways of handling environment variables in React and Node.js

View post
Collapse
 
rohan2734 profile image
rohan2734 •

do we need to activate any .env file ?

like sometimes, i have to activate some env files in the bash shell like

source ./example.env

and if we create a file through .env.prod

what package do we need to install ?

like dotenv?instead of npm-cmd it is looking very complex

and how to use .env.prod

is it same like

process.env.prod.SOME_KEY??

Collapse
 
myogeshchavan97 profile image
Yogesh Chavan •

There is no need of activating .env file. For .env.prod you can use the env-cmd npm package and use it as shown below:

"scripts": {
 "start": "env-cmd -f .env.dev node index.js",
 "start-prod": "env-cmd -f .env.prod node index.js"
},
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

So when you run npm run start command, all .env.dev environment variables will be available through process.env.some_key and when you run npm run start-prod command, all .env.prod environment variables will be available through process.env.some_key only.

Collapse
 
rohan2734 profile image
rohan2734 •

ok you left one point , please answer that too
i have asked, that if i have .env.dev file
and i have some key as

#.env.dev

SOME_KEY = somekeyvalue
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

then how do i need to use it?
Do i need to use it as

process.env.SOME_KEY
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

or

Process.env.dev.SOME_KEY
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
Thread Thread
 
myogeshchavan97 profile image
Yogesh Chavan •

you need to use process.env.SOME_KEY only. Also don't add spaces before and after the = sign in .env file

Thread Thread
 
rohan2734 profile image
rohan2734 •

okay thankyou sir, i will definitely try this

so,

#.env.dev
SOME_KEY=sdfs
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

and importing it as

process.env.SOME_KEY
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

I think this is fine now

Thread Thread
 
myogeshchavan97 profile image
Yogesh Chavan •

Yes, it looks fine