Using specific .env file according which your environment

01_laravel-muti-env-file.md

The issue

Imagine if you have several different environments and the .env settings need to be dynamic when the project pass through each..

This small script was made to solve it.

But, i strong recommend to take a look on https://github.com/vlucas/phpdotenv for better soluctions.

The flow

The custumer use their projects with the follow flow:

local (windows) -> dev (Linux) -> Stage (Linux) -> Prod (Linux)

So, i've organized the .env name file according the table below:

Environment	S.O.	.env
Local	Windows	.env.local
Dev	Linux	.env.dev
Stage	Linux	.env.stage
Production	Linux	.env.production

• PS: You can use it wich how many files who goes to need, just adjust the DetectEnvironment->whichIs() method it.
• PS2: It was used at an Laravel project, i believe it can be implemented for other needs.

*Please, let me know if you have any suggestion.

02_App\Helpers\DetectEnvironment.php

<?php

namespace App\Helpers;

/**
 * Detect enviroment via URL or CLI according with some unique caracteristic of the server
 */
class DetectEnvironment
{

    /**
     * Verify the which environment 
     * 
     * @return string name of environment
     */

    public function whichIs()
    {

        // Default is production
        $envName = 'production';

        // ---------------------------------------------------
        // If it was requested throught CLI (command line)
        // ----------------------------------------------------
        if (php_sapi_name() === 'cli') {

            // Locally is using Microsoft Windows
            if (stripos(PHP_OS, 'WIN') === 0) {
                $envName = 'local';
            }
            // Dev stack
            elseif (strpos(php_uname('a'), 'lampdev.YOUR_URL_NAME.com') !== false) {
                $envName = 'dev';
            }
            // Stage
            elseif (strpos(gethostname(), 'stage') !== false) {
                $envName = 'stage';
            } 

            return $envName;
        }

        // ----------------
        // Web request
        // ----------------
        $httpHost = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];


        // Locally we use the vhost dev.URL_EXAMPLE.com  
        if (strpos($httpHost, 'dev.') === 0) {
            $envName = 'local';
        }
        // Lampdev stack
        elseif (strpos($httpHost, 'lampdev.URL_EXAMPLE.com') !== false) {
            $envName = 'dev';
        }
        // Stage stack
        elseif (strpos($httpHost, 'stage.URL_EXAMPLE.com') !== false) {
            $envName = 'stage';
        }

        return $envName;
    }


    /**
     * Get .ENV filename according with environment 
     * 
     * @param string|null $filename If you want to force a specific filename, let it blank for auto-detect
     * @return string '.env.[enviroment]'
     */

    public function getEnvFilename($filename = null)
    {

        $suffix = ($filename ?: $this->whichIs());

        $newEnvFilename = '.env';
        $newEnvFilename .= ".{$suffix}";

        return $newEnvFilename;
    }
}

03_bootstrap\app.php

<?php

// ...all the code that already exists...

// --------------------------------------------------
// Identify Environment....
// PS: Insert it before the 'return $app' line
// ---------------------------------------------------
$detectEnvironment = new App\Helpers\DetectEnvironment;
$env = $app->detectEnvironment(function() use ($detectEnvironment) {
    return $detectEnvironment->whichIs();
});
$app->loadEnvironmentFrom($detectEnvironment->getEnvFilename($env));