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

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Replies for: 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 c...

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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"
},
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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.

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

process.env.SOME_KEY
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or

Process.env.dev.SOME_KEY
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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

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rohan2734 profile image
rohan2734 •

okay thankyou sir, i will definitely try this

so,

#.env.dev
SOME_KEY=sdfs
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and importing it as

process.env.SOME_KEY
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I think this is fine now

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myogeshchavan97 profile image
Yogesh Chavan •

Yes, it looks fine