CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.js
user1814841
user1814841

Reputation: 577

Can i store Objects in process.env

I'm storing an object (which has several methods) into process.env as below: 

var obj = createObject(); // returns new object
process.env.OBJ = obj;

When I access this object from other places like below, I don't see any of the methods.

var obj = process.env.OBJ;

Showing [Object Object].

Why is that?

Upvotes: 46

Views: 45677

Answers (4)

crystalthinker
crystalthinker

Reputation: 1182

Try to stringify the object and pass into the process.env and parse the string to get the object this will work. Eg.

var obj = createObject(); // returns new object

process.env.OBJ = JSON.stringify(obj);

Use this in code like let objFromEnv= JSON.parse(process.env.OBJ);

Upvotes: 2

Thiha Thit
Thiha Thit

Reputation: 191

Altho you can't store objects in process.env directly, you can still store in process itself.

Upvotes: 5

Rashad Ibrahimov
Rashad Ibrahimov

Reputation: 3309

Short answer is: NO

No, you can't store objects in process.env because it stores environment variables like PATH, SHELL, TMPDIR and others, which are represented by String values. If you run command console.log(process.env); you can see all env variables of your system, in particular you can set your own env variables (e.g. process.env.home = 'home') which will be available during the process you run your nodejs application.

Solution exists!
Stringify JSON object and save as env variable. Then parse and use it when you need your object

Upvotes: 47

bdifferent
bdifferent

Reputation: 703

process.env is to store your environmental variables not really to store your objects. You can store your variables like that:

process.env['CONSUMER_KEY'] = ""
process.env['CONSUMER_SECRET'] = ""
process.env['ACCESS_TOKEN_KEY'] = ""
process.env['ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET'] = ""

Here is a link to it https://nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_env

If you want to store your methods you should create a global object and assign your methods to that one.

Upvotes: 21

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