Question 223818 in Javascript Question posted in
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Javascript – NodeJS environnement variables are always undefined

I have a .env file which is the following:

PORT=5000

I first run source .env to load the environnement variables.
When I run echo $PORT, I see that the variable is set to 5000.

But, as soon as I run my nodeJS script, which contains

if(process.env.PORT === undefined) throw new Error("Missing PORT in process.env");

It throws an error because the PORT is undefined.
Even after running the script echo $PORT is still 5000.

The expected behavior is that process.env.PORT is 5000.

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2

Answers


  1. 0

    as Pointy mentioned it you can pass your environment variable when you start your script.
    If you prefer to use a .env file and want to access its variables during will have to install and use the dotenv package.

    Two way for doing that.

    • When you start your script : node -r dotenv/config scriptname.js
    • By importing the dotenv package at the start of your script : require(‘dotenv’).config();

    google research: node js process env
    answer source: https://nodejs.dev/en/learn/how-to-read-environment-variables-from-nodejs/

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  2. 0

    Install the dotenv package and import or require dotenv in your index.js file.

    const express = require("express");

    require("dotenv").config();
    
    
    app.listen(PORT, () => {
        console.log(`listening at port ${process.env.PORT}`)
    })

    Make sure you restart your server after importing the dotenv config.

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