Overview

dotenv gem can be used to load .env or environment file in ruby

It takes a variable number of arguments where each argument can be the .env filenames that it needs to load

Program

Create a file local.env with below contents

STACK=DEV
DATABASE=SQL

Here is the program

require 'dotenv'

Dotenv.load("local.env")
puts ENV["STACK"]
puts ENV["DATABASE"]

Output

DEV
SQL

It loads the local.env file and gives the correct output

It can also be used to load multiple .env files. Create a new file test.env with below contents

TEST=UNIT

require 'dotenv'

Dotenv.load("local.env", "test.env")
puts ENV["STACK"]
puts ENV["DATABASE"]
puts ENV["TEST"]

Output

DEV
SQL
UNIT

This was about loading .env files in ruby