marko/env

Environment variable loading — reads .env files and provides the env() helper with automatic type coercion. Env loads variables from a .env file into $_ENV and putenv(), with system environment variables taking precedence. The env() helper function retrieves values with type coercion for common patterns (true, false, null, empty). No external dependencies — works with any PHP application.

Installation

composer require marko/env

Usage

Loading Environment Variables

Load from a .env file at application bootstrap:

use Marko\Env\EnvLoader;

$envLoader = new EnvLoader();
$envLoader->load(__DIR__);

The .env file is optional — if it does not exist, the loader silently returns. System environment variables are never overwritten, allowing production deployments to override .env values.

The env() Helper

Retrieve environment variables with automatic type coercion:

// Simple retrieval
$dbHost = env('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

// Type coercion
$debug = env('APP_DEBUG');    // 'true' -> true, 'false' -> false
$value = env('NULLABLE_VAR'); // 'null' -> null
$empty = env('EMPTY_VAR');    // 'empty' -> ''

.env File Format

APP_NAME=Marko
APP_DEBUG=true
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306

# Comments start with #
SECRET_KEY="quoted values supported"
ANOTHER_KEY='single quotes too'

Using in Config Files

Environment variables should only be referenced in config files, not in application code:

config/database.php

return [
    'host' => env('DB_HOST', 'localhost'),
    'port' => (int) env('DB_PORT', 3306),
    'name' => env('DB_NAME', 'marko'),
];

Application code then reads config values:

$host = $this->config->getString('database.host');

Type Coercion

String Value	Coerced To
'true', '(true)'	true
'false', '(false)'	false
'null', '(null)'	null
'empty', '(empty)'	''
Everything else	Unchanged string

API Reference

EnvLoader

public function load(string $path): void;

Loads environment variables from a .env file in the given directory. Skips comments, blank lines, and lines without =. Removes surrounding quotes (single or double) from values. Does not overwrite existing system environment variables.

env()

function env(string $key, mixed $default = null): mixed;

Retrieves an environment variable by name. Checks $_ENV first, then falls back to getenv(). Returns the $default if the variable is not set. Applies type coercion for common string representations (see table above).