Environment variable file .env should support export?

[tashian]

Some folks prefer having an .env file that prepends env variables with export, so that it can also be sourced from Bash scripts, eg:

export FLASK_ENV=development
export NODE_ENV=development

Is this a pattern we should encourage?

[Rubix982]

I think it would depend on the context. If you're usually working with bash, and are sure you're not going to use other languages or software that might want to read that .env - sure, it doesn't harm your work.

On the contrary, this pattern makes it specific to bash only and now you would need to split each line with ' ' and then only select the 2nd part of that. By default, I don't know if dotenv libraries support such a behavior.

Again, that depends on the context if you're willing to take that approach.