Reading environment variables from more than one ".env" file in Python

Question

I have environment variables that I need to get from two different files in order to keep user+pw outside of the git repo. I download the sensitive user+pass from another location and add it to .gitignore.

I am using

from os import getenv
from dotenv import load_dotenv
    
    ...
    load_dotenv()
    DB_HOST=getenv('DB_HOST') # from env file 1
    DB_NAME=getenv('DB_NAME') # from env file 1
    DB_USER=getenv('DB_USER') # from env file 2
    DB_PASS=getenv('DB_PASS') # from env file 2

and I have the two ".env" files in the folder of the python script.

env_file.env contains:

DB_HOST=xyz
DB_NAME=abc

env_file_in_gitignore.env which needs to stay out of the git repo but is available by download using an sh script:

DB_USER=me
DB_PASS=eao

How to avoid the error:

TypeError: connect() argument 2 must be str, not None
connect() argument 2 must be str, not None

which is thrown since one of the two files are not used for the .env import?

How can I get environment variables from two different ".env" files, both stored in the working directory?

vht981230 · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-18 11:47:54Z

14

You can add file path as an argument in load_dotenv function

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

load_dotenv(<file 1 path>)
load_dotenv(<file 2 path>)

answered Jan 18, 2022 at 11:47

vht981230

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3 Comments

questionto42 Over a year ago

Is there anything that speaks against marking the other new answer on dotenv_values() as the answer instead?

vht981230 Over a year ago

@questionto42 If you think that answer works better for your case, I don't see any problem with that

questionto42 Over a year ago

I will wait for some votes.

Neeraj · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-03 07:34:08Z

7

I implemented reading env values from multiple env files by using if statements as below.

I put basic stuffs in .env file and local and prod settings in respective .env.local or .env.prod file

# Import and load environment variables
from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv() # Load .env file

# Need to check and return boolean, so check for String "True"
APP_ENVIRONMENT = os.getenv("DEBUG") == "True"

if APP_ENVIRONMENT:
    load_dotenv(".env.local")
else:
    load_dotenv(".env.prod")

answered Mar 3, 2023 at 7:34

Neeraj

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3 Comments

questionto42 Over a year ago

The question was about how to read more than one env file. You make it a choice between two env files, local and prod. That is nice code as well, but it is not an answer to the question.

Nicholas McCarthy Over a year ago

First it loads .env, then it loads either .env.local or .env.prod -- so it loads 2 env files and provides a good mechanism for switching between local and production.

questionto42 Over a year ago

@NicholasMcCarthy I see, then I was wrong with my remark right before yours.

President James K. Polk · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-14 22:17:10Z

3

You can call load_dotenv multiple times.

from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv('path1')
load_dotenv('path2')
.
.
.

for more information read this

edited Feb 14 at 22:17

President James K. Polk

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answered Jan 18, 2022 at 11:51

Jai248

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Comments

L Tyrone · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-24 06:41:44Z

2

If you don't need to load the env file into the environment, you can use dotenv_values to load all your files, but keep in mind that any duplicate variable will be overwritten by the last occurrence in the load order.

import os
from dotenv import dotenv_values

config = {
    **dotenv_values("env_file.env"),
    **dotenv_values("env_file_in_gitignore.env"),
}

More information on loading variables from environment or streams here.

edited Jul 24, 2024 at 6:41

L Tyrone

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answered Jul 23, 2024 at 15:26

iBreakEverything

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