Not able to echo env vars about dotenv-cli HOT 4 CLOSED

Yes, the problem has to do with how the shell works.

With your command, the shell will interpret this. One of the first things it does is do the interpolation

npx dotenv -- echo "$FOO"

$FOO is replaced by the env variable named FOO which is probably unset, so you get the empty string

npx dotenv -- echo ""

Now npx is run which runs dotenv -- echo "" which runs echo "" (where the last command has access to the env variable FOO=bar)

I think npx dotenv -- bash -c 'echo "$FOO"' should work as everything between ' is not interpreted so env variables are not replaced. Now dotenv-cli will run bash -c 'echo "$FOO"' with the env variable set which means bash will run echo "$FOO" in the right environment which should print correctly.

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Extremely helpful — thank you for taking the time to explain @entropitor .

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@rbrtmrtn No problem. I've been tripped up a lot by early shell interpolation / env variables from the wrong process. It's quite confusing sometimes 😅

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Is there a way to make this work on multiple environments? Bash doesn't work on Windows.

Edit: A possible way this could work is with an interpolate flag and character substitution e.g.
dotenv -- command $SOME_VAR $SOME_VAR_2
would become
dotenv --interpolate SOME_VAR,SOME_VAR_2 -- command #1 #2
It would assign a number based on position in the command and then swap the #1 with the variable.
Note that the variables are deliberately not using the $ in the second command to prevent being swapped out.

You could also then swap the order of variables in the command, like so:
dotenv -- command $SOME_VAR_2 $SOME_VAR
would be
dotenv --interpolate SOME_VAR,SOME_VAR_2 -- command #2 #1

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