file containing env vars not loading

Question

I am trying to have my system automatically load a file containing some environment vars to use in my rails project instead of just exporting them to the shell but i just cant seem to get it working.

i'm using mac osx 10.6

these are steps i followed.

nano .bash_profile

export PATH=Users/Moshe/env_vars:$PATH

touch env_vars

nano env_vars

DEV_DB=TestDB
export DEV_DB

DEV_DB_HOST=12.34.56.78
export DEV_DB_HOST

exit

I reopen the shell and

printenv

but i don't see the vars i set

however i do see it Users/Moshe/env_vars in the path when i echo $PATH

i have tried looking at this answer but i cant seem to see what im doing wrong

Setting environment variables in OS X?

remove `exit` word, then issue in the command line your script as follows: `. your_script.sh` — Малъ Скрылевъ, Jan 13 '14 at 17:47
the `exit` is not written i just typed that into the terminal to make sure its reloaded — Moshe, Jan 13 '14 at 17:52
yes by typing that command i now see it but i wanted this to happen automatically happen when loaded without the need to type any commands — Moshe, Jan 13 '14 at 17:53
either insert the code into **.bash_profile**, or store it into the specific file and call from **.bash_profile** as follows: `. your_script.sh` — Малъ Скрылевъ, Jan 13 '14 at 17:54

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 13 '14 at 17:20

1

Environment variables aren't read from files found on your $PATH; your $PATH is searched to find executable files when you type a command in the shell.

To load your variables, you'll need to "source" the file instead:

# .bash_profile
source /Users/Moche/env_vars

(Notice that you also need the initial / to make the filename absolute.)

Also, since you're using Ruby, you might be interested in using the dotenv gem. dotenv lets you specify environment variables in a .env file in the root of your Rails project and automatically load them on startup. This keeps the variables you need for each project close to the code and makes your project a little more portable (you can use this to deploy on a service like Heroku, for example). Just make sure you don't commit .env into your version control if it has any sensitive information like passwords in it!

answered Jan 13 '14 at 17:20

Ash Wilson

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Im gonna look into that gem – Moshe Jan 13 '14 at 17:28
but i just tried changing from export to source with the absolute path and still not showing up – Moshe Jan 13 '14 at 17:28
Did you re-source your `.bash_profile`? (`source ~/.bash_profile` from the terminal, or opening a new terminal window, after you save your changes.) – Ash Wilson Jan 13 '14 at 17:30
i used `exit` closed the terminal window and just reopened it. do i need to use the source command? – Moshe Jan 13 '14 at 17:31
I just used the source `~/.bash_profile` command from the terminal command line and still not showing up – Moshe Jan 13 '14 at 17:33
Hmm. When you say "changing from export to source", did you by any chance leave the `:$PATH` bit on? (It shouldn't be there.) Do you get any errors messages when you source .bash_profile? – Ash Wilson Jan 13 '14 at 17:40
i changed that line to `source /Users/Moshe/env_vars` and that didn't work so i also tried to put it in quotes like so `source "/Users/Moshe/env_vars"` also no luck – Moshe Jan 13 '14 at 17:46

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 13 '14 at 18:38

1

Don't use exit keyword. Either insert the code into .bash_profile, or store it into the specific file, for example your_script.sh, and call from .bash_profile as follows:

. your_script.sh

answered Jan 13 '14 at 18:38

Малъ Скрылевъ

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file containing env vars not loading

2 Answers2