Question 1

How to use symfony dotenv in a Laravel project?

Accepted Answer

You can install it via Composer and manually load .env files, but Laravel already uses vlucas/phpdotenv internally, so it's generally redundant. Stick with Laravel's native .env handling unless you need specific Symfony integration features.

Question 2

Symfony dotenv vs phpdotenv: which is better?

Accepted Answer

Symfony Dotenv is optimized for Symfony projects with automatic environment detection, while phpdotenv is framework-agnostic and has wider community use. Choose Symfony Dotenv if you're deep in the Symfony ecosystem; otherwise, phpdotenv offers more flexibility for general PHP applications.

Question 3

Can symfony dotenv load variables from a database?

Accepted Answer

No, it only parses .env files. To load variables from a database, you'd need to write custom code to fetch and set them using putenv() or similar, as Dotenv doesn't support external sources out of the box.

Question 4

How to set default values for environment variables with symfony dotenv?

Accepted Answer

Symfony Dotenv doesn't provide built-in defaulting. You must handle it in your application code, e.g., by checking if variables exist in $_ENV or $_SERVER and falling back to defaults, which adds extra boilerplate.

Question 5

Does symfony dotenv work with Docker?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can use it with Docker by mounting .env files into containers and loading them via Dotenv. However, Docker can also load .env files directly using the --env-file flag or Docker Compose, potentially making Dotenv redundant in containerized setups.

Question 6

How to handle production secrets with symfony dotenv?

Accepted Answer

In production, avoid committing .env files to version control. Instead, set variables at the server level or use platform tools. Symfony Dotenv can still load files, but ensure they're secured and consider using overload() carefully to prevent accidental overrides.

Symfony Dotenv

What is Symfony Dotenv?

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