django 2 not able to load env variables from the .env file to setting.py file

Question

I tried to load environment variables from a file named .env to settings.py file here i created the .env file and settings file same folder.

this is my .env file

DEBUG=on
SECRET_KEY=ksmdfw3324@#jefm
DATABASE_URL=psql://urser:un-githubbedpassword@127.0.0.1:8458/database
SQLITE_URL=sqlite:///my-local-sqlite.db
CACHE_URL=memcache://127.0.0.1:11211,127.0.0.1:11212,127.0.0.1:11213
REDIS_URL=rediscache://127.0.0.1:6379/1? 
client_class=django_redis.client.DefaultClient&password=ungithubbed-secret


MYSQL_DATABASE = student
MYSQL_USERNAME = root 
SECRET_KEY=secret-key

this is my setting.py file

import os

from os.path import join, dirname
from dotenv import load_dotenv

dotenv_path = join(dirname(__file__), '.env')

load_dotenv(dotenv_path)

# Accessing variables.
dbname = os.getenv('MYSQL_DATABASE')
secret_key = os.getenv('SECRET_KEY')

# Using variables.
print(dabname)
print(secret_key)

i installed pip install -U python-dotenv

Issue is i am not able to get environment variable inside settings file

while trying python manage.py runserver i am getting this error

C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\dotenv\main.py:65: UserWarning: File doesn't exist
warnings.warn("File doesn't exist {}".format(self.dotenv_path))
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 28, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 371, in 
execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 317, in execute
settings.INSTALLED_APPS
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 56, in __getattr__
self._setup(name)
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 43, in _setup
self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 106, in __init__
mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE)
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36- 
32\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 994, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 971, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 955, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 665, in _load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 678, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "C:\xampp\htdocs\epitastudent\epitastudent\settings.py", line 25, in 
<module>
load_dotenv()
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\dotenv\main.py", line 255, in load_dotenv
return DotEnv(f, 
verbose=verbose).set_as_environment_variables(override=override)
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\site- 
packages\dotenv\main.py", line 98, in set_as_environment_variables
os.environ[k] = v
File "C:\Users\mehul\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\os.py", 
line 675, in __setitem__
 self.putenv(key, value)
 ValueError: embedded null character

I am not sure how to create development and production environment variable and about this embedded null character. pls help me any one Thanks in advance

Edit: I got now .env file to inside settings

import os
import environ
root = environ.Path(__file__) - 3 # three folder back (/a/b/c/ - 3 = /)
env = environ.Env(DEBUG=(bool, False),) # set default values and casting
environ.Env.read_env() # reading .env file
print(os.getenv('DATABASE_NAME'))

How can i differentiate development env credentials and production credentials

Answer 1

First ensure that .env file in the base directory of your project, which is the same directory as manage.py.

To load the .env file in your settings.py, use the following code:

from pathlib import Path
import dotenv

# Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent

# Load .env file
ENV_FILE_PATH = BASE_DIR / ".env"
dotenv.read_dotenv(str(ENV_FILE_PATH))
# load value from .env file
SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get("PRODUCTION_SECRET_KEY")

Note: In the .env file, if a value contains #, it will only read the string up to the #.

For example, in the .env file:

SECRET_KEY=12sad&6#dsds

It will only read 12sad and not the full string. To include the full string, enclose it in double quotes("") or single quotes (''):

SECRET_KEY='12sad&6#dsds'

You can test if it's working after setting up in settings.py using the Django shell command python manage.py shell:

>>> import os
>>> os.environ.get("SECRET_KEY")
'12sad&6#dsds'

Answer 2

For future Googlers here's another approach. Inside manage.py add:

from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()

Now you can do the following anywhere else in your project (including settings.py) to get access to environment variables:

import os
os.environ.get("NAME")

Answer 3

I was unable to load environment variables using load_dotenv() in Python version 3.5 - later versions were working fine.

The workaround is explicitly include the folder containing .env in the path. So, assuming folder project contains .env, settings.py will have following lines:

import os 
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
from dotenv import load_dotenv 
load_dotenv(os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "project", ".env"))

Answer 4

I think there are mainly two packages to use pip install django-environ and pip install python-dotenv

I choose to use dotenv, as django-environ give me some error. Error: The SECRET_KEY setting must not be empty Below is my working solution, notice that it is square bracket [] when calling os.environ.

My version is Django==2.2.6, python==3.7.5

settings.py

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
load_dotenv(os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '.env'))
SECRET_KEY = os.environ['SECRET_KEY']

and the .env file is storing in the current directory with

.env

export SECRET_KEY="xxxxxx"
export DB_NAME = "xxx"

Answer 5

Try this instead:

import os
import environ

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
environ.Env.read_env(env_file=os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '.env'))

Answer 6

I'm not quite sure, but maybe it has to do with the path to the .env file. Maybe you should try in settings.py:

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(file)))

dotenv_path = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, file.env)