royman-dotenv 1.1.2
Read key-value pairs from a .env file and set them as environment variables
License: BSD-3-Clause
Requires Python: >=3.9
Keywords: environment variables, deployments, settings, env, dotenv, configurations, python

# python-dotenv

[![Build Status][build_status_badge]][build_status_link]
[![PyPI version][pypi_badge]][pypi_link]

python-dotenv reads key-value pairs from a `.env` file and can set them as environment
variables. It helps in the development of applications following the
[12-factor](https://12factor.net/) principles.

- [Getting Started](#getting-started)
- [Other Use Cases](#other-use-cases)
  * [Load configuration without altering the environment](#load-configuration-without-altering-the-environment)
  * [Parse configuration as a stream](#parse-configuration-as-a-stream)
  * [Load .env files in IPython](#load-env-files-in-ipython)
- [Command-line Interface](#command-line-interface)
- [File format](#file-format)
  * [Multiline values](#multiline-values)
  * [Variable expansion](#variable-expansion)
- [Related Projects](#related-projects)
- [Acknowledgements](#acknowledgements)

## Getting Started

```shell
pip install python-dotenv
```

If your application takes its configuration from environment variables, like a 12-factor
application, launching it in development is not very practical because you have to set
those environment variables yourself.

To help you with that, you can add python-dotenv to your application to make it load the
configuration from a `.env` file when it is present (e.g. in development) while remaining
configurable via the environment:

```python
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()  # take environment variables

# Code of your application, which uses environment variables (e.g. from `os.environ` or
# `os.getenv`) as if they came from the actual environment.
```

By default, `load_dotenv` doesn't override existing environment variables and looks for a `.env` file in same directory as python script or searches for it incrementally higher up.

To configure the development environment, add a `.env` in the root directory of your
project:

```
.
├── .env
└── foo.py
```

The syntax of `.env` files supported by python-dotenv is similar to that of Bash:

```bash
# Development settings
DOMAIN=example.org
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@${DOMAIN}
ROOT_URL=${DOMAIN}/app
```

If you use variables in values, ensure they are surrounded with `{` and `}`, like
`${DOMAIN}`, as bare variables such as `$DOMAIN` are not expanded.

You will probably want to add `.env` to your `.gitignore`, especially if it contains
secrets like a password.

See the section "File format" below for more information about what you can write in a
`.env` file.

## Other Use Cases

### Load configuration without altering the environment

The function `dotenv_values` works more or less the same way as `load_dotenv`, except it
doesn't touch the environment, it just returns a `dict` with the values parsed from the
`.env` file.

```python
from dotenv import dotenv_values

config = dotenv_values(".env")  # config = {"USER": "foo", "EMAIL": "foo@example.org"}
```

This notably enables advanced configuration management:

```python
import os
from dotenv import dotenv_values

config = {
    **dotenv_values(".env.shared"),  # load shared development variables
    **dotenv_values(".env.secret"),  # load sensitive variables
    **os.environ,  # override loaded values with environment variables
}
```

### Parse configuration as a stream

`load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` accept [streams][python_streams] via their `stream`
argument.  It is thus possible to load the variables from sources other than the
filesystem (e.g. the network).

```python
from io import StringIO

from dotenv import load_dotenv

config = StringIO("USER=foo\nEMAIL=foo@example.org")
load_dotenv(stream=config)
```

### Load .env files in IPython

You can use dotenv in IPython.  By default, it will use `find_dotenv` to search for a
`.env` file:

```python
%load_ext dotenv
%dotenv
```

You can also specify a path:

```python
%dotenv relative/or/absolute/path/to/.env
```

Optional flags:

- `-o` to override existing variables.
- `-v` for increased verbosity.

## Command-line Interface

A CLI interface `dotenv` is also included, which helps you manipulate the `.env` file
without manually opening it.

```shell
$ pip install "python-dotenv[cli]"
$ dotenv set USER foo
$ dotenv set EMAIL foo@example.org
$ dotenv list
USER=foo
EMAIL=foo@example.org
$ dotenv list --format=json
{
  "USER": "foo",
  "EMAIL": "foo@example.org"
}
$ dotenv run -- python foo.py
```

Run `dotenv --help` for more information about the options and subcommands.

## File format

The format is not formally specified and still improves over time.  That being said,
`.env` files should mostly look like Bash files.

Keys can be unquoted or single-quoted. Values can be unquoted, single- or double-quoted.
Spaces before and after keys, equal signs, and values are ignored. Values can be followed
by a comment.  Lines can start with the `export` directive, which does not affect their
interpretation.

Allowed escape sequences:

- in single-quoted values: `\\`, `\'`
- in double-quoted values: `\\`, `\'`, `\"`, `\a`, `\b`, `\f`, `\n`, `\r`, `\t`, `\v`

### Multiline values

It is possible for single- or double-quoted values to span multiple lines.  The following
examples are equivalent:

```bash
FOO="first line
second line"
```

```bash
FOO="first line\nsecond line"
```

### Variable without a value

A variable can have no value:

```bash
FOO
```

It results in `dotenv_values` associating that variable name with the value `None` (e.g.
`{"FOO": None}`. `load_dotenv`, on the other hand, simply ignores such variables.

This shouldn't be confused with `FOO=`, in which case the variable is associated with the
empty string.

### Variable expansion

python-dotenv can interpolate variables using POSIX variable expansion.

With `load_dotenv(override=True)` or `dotenv_values()`, the value of a variable is the
first of the values defined in the following list:

- Value of that variable in the `.env` file.
- Value of that variable in the environment.
- Default value, if provided.
- Empty string.

With `load_dotenv(override=False)`, the value of a variable is the first of the values
defined in the following list:

- Value of that variable in the environment.
- Value of that variable in the `.env` file.
- Default value, if provided.
- Empty string.

## Related Projects

-   [Honcho](https://github.com/nickstenning/honcho) - For managing
    Procfile-based applications.
-   [django-dotenv](https://github.com/jpadilla/django-dotenv)
-   [django-environ](https://github.com/joke2k/django-environ)
-   [django-environ-2](https://github.com/sergeyklay/django-environ-2)
-   [django-configuration](https://github.com/jezdez/django-configurations)
-   [dump-env](https://github.com/sobolevn/dump-env)
-   [environs](https://github.com/sloria/environs)
-   [dynaconf](https://github.com/rochacbruno/dynaconf)
-   [parse_it](https://github.com/naorlivne/parse_it)
-   [python-decouple](https://github.com/HBNetwork/python-decouple)

## Acknowledgements

This project is currently maintained by [Saurabh Kumar](https://saurabh-kumar.com) and
[Bertrand Bonnefoy-Claudet](https://github.com/bbc2) and would not have been possible
without the support of these [awesome
people](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/graphs/contributors).

[build_status_badge]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg
[build_status_link]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/actions/workflows/test.yml
[pypi_badge]: https://badge.fury.io/py/python-dotenv.svg
[pypi_link]: https://badge.fury.io/py/python-dotenv
[python_streams]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/io.html

# Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/), and this
project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).


## [1.1.0] - 2025-03-25

**Feature**
- Add support for python 3.13
- Enhance `dotenv run`, switch to `execvpe` for better resource management and signal handling ([#523]) by [@eekstunt]

**Fixed**
- `find_dotenv` and `load_dotenv` now correctly looks up at the current directory when running in debugger or pdb ([#553] by [@randomseed42])

**Misc**
- Drop support for Python 3.8

## [1.0.1] - 2024-01-23

**Fixed**

* Gracefully handle code which has been imported from a zipfile ([#456] by [@samwyma])
* Allow modules using `load_dotenv` to be reloaded when launched in a separate thread ([#497] by [@freddyaboulton])
* Fix file not closed after deletion, handle error in the rewrite function ([#469] by [@Qwerty-133])

**Misc**
* Use pathlib.Path in tests ([#466] by [@eumiro])
* Fix year in release date in changelog.md ([#454] by [@jankislinger])
* Use https in README links ([#474] by [@Nicals])

## [1.0.0] - 2023-02-24

**Fixed**

* Drop support for python 3.7, add python 3.12-dev (#449 by [@theskumar])
* Handle situations where the cwd does not exist. (#446 by [@jctanner])

## [0.21.1] - 2023-01-21

**Added**

* Use Python 3.11 non-beta in CI (#438 by [@bbc2])
* Modernize variables code (#434 by [@Nougat-Waffle])
* Modernize main.py and parser.py code (#435 by [@Nougat-Waffle])
* Improve conciseness of cli.py and __init__.py (#439 by [@Nougat-Waffle])
* Improve error message for `get` and `list` commands when env file can't be opened (#441 by [@bbc2])
* Updated License to align with BSD OSI template (#433 by [@lsmith77])


**Fixed**

* Fix Out-of-scope error when "dest" variable is undefined (#413 by [@theGOTOguy])
* Fix IPython test warning about deprecated `magic` (#440 by [@bbc2])
* Fix type hint for dotenv_path var, add StrPath alias (#432 by [@eaf])

## [0.21.0] - 2022-09-03

**Added**

* CLI: add support for invocations via 'python -m'. (#395 by [@theskumar])
* `load_dotenv` function now returns `False`. (#388 by [@larsks])
* CLI: add --format= option to list command. (#407 by [@sammck])

**Fixed**

* Drop Python 3.5 and 3.6 and upgrade GA (#393 by [@eggplants])
* Use `open` instead of `io.open`. (#389 by [@rabinadk1])
* Improve documentation for variables without a value (#390 by [@bbc2])
* Add `parse_it` to Related Projects (#410 by [@naorlivne])
* Update README.md (#415 by [@harveer07])
* Improve documentation with direct use of MkDocs (#398 by [@bbc2])

## [0.20.0] - 2022-03-24

**Added**

- Add `encoding` (`Optional[str]`) parameter to `get_key`, `set_key` and `unset_key`.
  (#379 by [@bbc2])

**Fixed**

- Use dict to specify the `entry_points` parameter of `setuptools.setup` (#376 by
  [@mgorny]).
- Don't build universal wheels (#387 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.19.2] - 2021-11-11

**Fixed**

- In `set_key`, add missing newline character before new entry if necessary. (#361 by
  [@bbc2])

## [0.19.1] - 2021-08-09

**Added**

- Add support for Python 3.10. (#359 by [@theskumar])

## [0.19.0] - 2021-07-24

**Changed**

- Require Python 3.5 or a later version.  Python 2 and 3.4 are no longer supported. (#341
  by [@bbc2]).

**Added**

- The `dotenv_path` argument of `set_key` and `unset_key` now has a type of `Union[str,
  os.PathLike]` instead of just `os.PathLike` (#347 by [@bbc2]).
- The `stream` argument of `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` can now be a text stream
  (`IO[str]`), which includes values like `io.StringIO("foo")` and `open("file.env",
  "r")` (#348 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.18.0] - 2021-06-20

**Changed**

- Raise `ValueError` if `quote_mode` isn't one of `always`, `auto` or `never` in
  `set_key` (#330 by [@bbc2]).
- When writing a value to a .env file with `set_key` or `dotenv set <key> <value>` (#330
  by [@bbc2]):
  - Use single quotes instead of double quotes.
  - Don't strip surrounding quotes.
  - In `auto` mode, don't add quotes if the value is only made of alphanumeric characters
    (as determined by `string.isalnum`).

## [0.17.1] - 2021-04-29

**Fixed**

- Fixed tests for build environments relying on `PYTHONPATH` (#318 by [@befeleme]).

## [0.17.0] - 2021-04-02

**Changed**

- Make `dotenv get <key>` only show the value, not `key=value` (#313 by [@bbc2]).

**Added**

- Add `--override`/`--no-override` option to `dotenv run` (#312 by [@zueve] and [@bbc2]).

## [0.16.0] - 2021-03-27

**Changed**

- The default value of the `encoding` parameter for `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` is
  now `"utf-8"` instead of `None` (#306 by [@bbc2]).
- Fix resolution order in variable expansion with `override=False` (#287 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.15.0] - 2020-10-28

**Added**

- Add `--export` option to `set` to make it prepend the binding with `export` (#270 by
  [@jadutter]).

**Changed**

- Make `set` command create the `.env` file in the current directory if no `.env` file was
  found (#270 by [@jadutter]).

**Fixed**

- Fix potentially empty expanded value for duplicate key (#260 by [@bbc2]).
- Fix import error on Python 3.5.0 and 3.5.1 (#267 by [@gongqingkui]).
- Fix parsing of unquoted values containing several adjacent space or tab characters
  (#277 by [@bbc2], review by [@x-yuri]).

## [0.14.0] - 2020-07-03

**Changed**

- Privilege definition in file over the environment in variable expansion (#256 by
  [@elbehery95]).

**Fixed**

- Improve error message for when file isn't found (#245 by [@snobu]).
- Use HTTPS URL in package meta data (#251 by [@ekohl]).

## [0.13.0] - 2020-04-16

**Added**

- Add support for a Bash-like default value in variable expansion (#248 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.12.0] - 2020-02-28

**Changed**

- Use current working directory to find `.env` when bundled by PyInstaller (#213 by
  [@gergelyk]).

**Fixed**

- Fix escaping of quoted values written by `set_key` (#236 by [@bbc2]).
- Fix `dotenv run` crashing on environment variables without values (#237 by [@yannham]).
- Remove warning when last line is empty (#238 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.11.0] - 2020-02-07

**Added**

- Add `interpolate` argument to `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` to disable interpolation
  (#232 by [@ulyssessouza]).

**Changed**

- Use logging instead of warnings (#231 by [@bbc2]).

**Fixed**

- Fix installation in non-UTF-8 environments (#225 by [@altendky]).
- Fix PyPI classifiers (#228 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.10.5] - 2020-01-19

**Fixed**

- Fix handling of malformed lines and lines without a value (#222 by [@bbc2]):
  - Don't print warning when key has no value.
  - Reject more malformed lines (e.g. "A: B", "a='b',c").
- Fix handling of lines with just a comment (#224 by [@bbc2]).

## [0.10.4] - 2020-01-17

**Added**

- Make typing optional (#179 by [@techalchemy]).
- Print a warning on malformed line (#211 by [@bbc2]).
- Support keys without a value (#220 by [@ulyssessouza]).

## 0.10.3

- Improve interactive mode detection ([@andrewsmith])([#183]).
- Refactor parser to fix parsing inconsistencies ([@bbc2])([#170]).
  - Interpret escapes as control characters only in double-quoted strings.
  - Interpret `#` as start of comment only if preceded by whitespace.

## 0.10.2

- Add type hints and expose them to users ([@qnighy])([#172])
- `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` now accept an `encoding` parameter, defaults to `None`
  ([@theskumar])([@earlbread])([#161])
- Fix `str`/`unicode` inconsistency in Python 2: values are always `str` now. ([@bbc2])([#121])
- Fix Unicode error in Python 2, introduced in 0.10.0. ([@bbc2])([#176])

## 0.10.1
- Fix parsing of variable without a value ([@asyncee])([@bbc2])([#158])

## 0.10.0

- Add support for UTF-8 in unquoted values ([@bbc2])([#148])
- Add support for trailing comments ([@bbc2])([#148])
- Add backslashes support in values ([@bbc2])([#148])
- Add support for newlines in values ([@bbc2])([#148])
- Force environment variables to str with Python2 on Windows ([@greyli])
- Drop Python 3.3 support ([@greyli])
- Fix stderr/-out/-in redirection ([@venthur])


## 0.9.0

- Add `--version` parameter to cli ([@venthur])
- Enable loading from current directory ([@cjauvin])
- Add 'dotenv run' command for calling arbitrary shell script with .env ([@venthur])

## 0.8.1

-   Add tests for docs ([@Flimm])
-   Make 'cli' support optional. Use `pip install python-dotenv[cli]`. ([@theskumar])

## 0.8.0

-   `set_key` and `unset_key` only modified the affected file instead of
    parsing and re-writing file, this causes comments and other file
    entact as it is.
-   Add support for `export` prefix in the line.
-   Internal refractoring ([@theskumar])
-   Allow `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` to work with `StringIO())` ([@alanjds])([@theskumar])([#78])

## 0.7.1

-   Remove hard dependency on iPython ([@theskumar])

## 0.7.0

-   Add support to override system environment variable via .env.
    ([@milonimrod](https://github.com/milonimrod))
    ([\#63](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/63))
-   Disable ".env not found" warning by default
    ([@maxkoryukov](https://github.com/maxkoryukov))
    ([\#57](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/57))

## 0.6.5

-   Add support for special characters `\`.
    ([@pjona](https://github.com/pjona))
    ([\#60](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/60))

## 0.6.4

-   Fix issue with single quotes ([@Flimm])
    ([\#52](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/52))

## 0.6.3

-   Handle unicode exception in setup.py
    ([\#46](https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/46))

## 0.6.2

-   Fix dotenv list command ([@ticosax](https://github.com/ticosax))
-   Add iPython Support
    ([@tillahoffmann](https://github.com/tillahoffmann))

## 0.6.0

-   Drop support for Python 2.6
-   Handle escaped characters and newlines in quoted values. (Thanks
    [@iameugenejo](https://github.com/iameugenejo))
-   Remove any spaces around unquoted key/value. (Thanks
    [@paulochf](https://github.com/paulochf))
-   Added POSIX variable expansion. (Thanks
    [@hugochinchilla](https://github.com/hugochinchilla))

## 0.5.1

-   Fix `find_dotenv` - it now start search from the file where this
    function is called from.

## 0.5.0

-   Add `find_dotenv` method that will try to find a `.env` file.
    (Thanks [@isms](https://github.com/isms))

## 0.4.0

-   cli: Added `-q/--quote` option to control the behaviour of quotes
    around values in `.env`. (Thanks
    [@hugochinchilla](https://github.com/hugochinchilla)).
-   Improved test coverage.

[#78]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/78
[#121]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/121
[#148]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/148
[#158]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/158
[#170]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/170
[#172]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/172
[#176]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/176
[#183]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/183
[#359]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/359
[#469]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/469
[#456]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/456
[#466]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/466
[#454]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/454
[#474]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/474
[#523]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/523
[#553]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/issues/553

[@alanjds]: https://github.com/alanjds
[@altendky]: https://github.com/altendky
[@andrewsmith]: https://github.com/andrewsmith
[@asyncee]: https://github.com/asyncee
[@bbc2]: https://github.com/bbc2
[@befeleme]: https://github.com/befeleme
[@cjauvin]: https://github.com/cjauvin
[@eaf]: https://github.com/eaf
[@earlbread]: https://github.com/earlbread
[@eekstunt]: https://github.com/eekstunt
[@eggplants]: https://github.com/@eggplants
[@ekohl]: https://github.com/ekohl
[@elbehery95]: https://github.com/elbehery95
[@eumiro]: https://github.com/eumiro
[@Flimm]: https://github.com/Flimm
[@freddyaboulton]: https://github.com/freddyaboulton
[@gergelyk]: https://github.com/gergelyk
[@gongqingkui]: https://github.com/gongqingkui
[@greyli]: https://github.com/greyli
[@harveer07]: https://github.com/@harveer07
[@jadutter]: https://github.com/jadutter
[@jankislinger]: https://github.com/jankislinger
[@jctanner]: https://github.com/jctanner
[@larsks]: https://github.com/@larsks
[@lsmith77]: https://github.com/lsmith77
[@mgorny]: https://github.com/mgorny
[@naorlivne]: https://github.com/@naorlivne
[@Nicals]: https://github.com/Nicals
[@Nougat-Waffle]: https://github.com/Nougat-Waffle
[@qnighy]: https://github.com/qnighy
[@Qwerty-133]: https://github.com/Qwerty-133
[@rabinadk1]: https://github.com/@rabinadk1
[@sammck]: https://github.com/@sammck
[@samwyma]: https://github.com/samwyma
[@snobu]: https://github.com/snobu
[@techalchemy]: https://github.com/techalchemy
[@theGOTOguy]: https://github.com/theGOTOguy
[@theskumar]: https://github.com/theskumar
[@ulyssessouza]: https://github.com/ulyssessouza
[@venthur]: https://github.com/venthur
[@x-yuri]: https://github.com/x-yuri
[@yannham]: https://github.com/yannham
[@zueve]: https://github.com/zueve
[@randomseed42]: https://github.com/zueve

[Unreleased]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v1.0.1...HEAD
[1.0.1]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v1.0.0...v1.0.1
[1.0.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.21.0...v1.0.0
[0.21.1]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.21.0...v0.21.1
[0.21.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.20.0...v0.21.0
[0.20.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.19.2...v0.20.0
[0.19.2]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.19.1...v0.19.2
[0.19.1]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.19.0...v0.19.1
[0.19.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.18.0...v0.19.0
[0.18.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.17.1...v0.18.0
[0.17.1]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.17.0...v0.17.1
[0.17.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.16.0...v0.17.0
[0.16.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.15.0...v0.16.0
[0.15.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.14.0...v0.15.0
[0.14.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.13.0...v0.14.0
[0.13.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.12.0...v0.13.0
[0.12.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.11.0...v0.12.0
[0.11.0]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.10.5...v0.11.0
[0.10.5]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.10.4...v0.10.5
[0.10.4]: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/compare/v0.10.3...v0.10.4