Define environment variables in Laravel

This article is to explain more about environment configuration in Laravel.

Introduction

All of the configuration files for the Laravel framework are stored in the config directory. Each option is documented, so feel free to look through the files and get familiar with the options available to you.

These configuration files allow you to configure things like your database connection information, your mail server information, your services information, as well as various other core configuration values such as your application timezone and encryption key.

Environment Configuration

It is often helpful to have different configuration values based on the environment where the application is running. For example, you may wish to use a different cache driver locally than you do on your production server.

To make this a cinch, Laravel utilizes the DotEnv PHP library. In a fresh Laravel installation, the root directory of your application will contain a .env.example file that defines many common environment variables. During the Laravel installation process, this file will automatically be copied to .env.