env($key, $default = null)

The env function can be used to get an environment variables value. If an environment value with the given $key exists, its value will be returned. If the given $key does not exist, the $default value will be returned instead, which is null by default. The following examples will show examples of the env function.

The following examples will use the following .env file:

 1APP_ENV=local
 2APP_DEBUG=true
 3APP_KEY=SomeRandomString
 4
 5DB_HOST=localhost
 6DB_DATABASE=homestead
 7DB_USERNAME=homestead
 8DB_PASSWORD=secret
 9
10CACHE_DRIVER=file
11SESSION_DRIVER=file
12
13TEST_TRUE1=true
14TEST_TRUE2=(true)
15
16TEST_FALSE1=false
17TEST_FALSE2=(false)
18
19TEST_NULL1=null
20TEST_NULL2=(null)
21
22TEST_EMPTY1=empty
23TEST_EMPTY2=(empty)

The returned value will appear above the function call as a comment (the actual values returned will likely be different based on application specifics and environment configuration):

 1<?php
 2 
 3// local
 4env('APP_ENV');
 5 
 6// true
 7env('APP_DEBUG');
 8 
 9// A rather long default value
10env('NonExistent', 'A rather long default value');

The env function will automatically convert boolean string representations and null representations into their corresponding PHP value. In the above example configuration file, the values returned for TEST_TRUE1, TEST_TRUE2, TEST_FALSE1 and TEST_FALSE2 will automatically be converted to a boolean type. The values returned for TEST_NULL1 and TEST_NULL2 will automatically be converted to a null type. The values returned for TEST_EMPTY1 and TEST_EMPTY2 will actually be an empty string, with a length of 0.

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