PHP cannot use Enviroment Variable, even though it appears to be set. How can I get PHP to notice it?

I know this is old - but if anyone else stumbles across this, do also check out this comment on the PHP wiki.

There’s a PHP configuration setting (variables_order) that needs to include the character ‘E’ to access environment variables.

Looks like this may be a security feature (stopping php from reading environment variables).

There may be a setting you have to turn on (or off) in php.ini but what I’ve found if you put the enviroment variable in /etc/enviroment php will read it with getenv().

This link may shed some light on it: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13568191/how-to-get-system-environment-variables-into-php-while-running-cli-apache2hand

Steps to Ensure PHP Can Access Environment Variables:

1. Set Environment Variables in Apache or Nginx Configuration

You need to ensure the environment variable is accessible to the web server and, by extension, PHP.

a. Apache

• Open your Apache configuration file (or virtual host file):

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add the following line to pass the environment variable to PHP:

SetEnv SENDGRID_API_KEY "your_sendgrid_api_key_here"

Restart Apache to apply the changes.

b. Nginx with PHP-FPM

• Open the PHP-FPM pool configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

• Add the environment variable at the end of the file:

env[SENDGRID_API_KEY] = "your_sendgrid_api_key_here"

• Restart PHP-FPM and Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart php7.4-fpm sudo systemctl restart nginx

2. Check PHP-FPM or Apache User Permissions

If PHP is running under a different user (like www-data), it won’t inherit your shell’s environment variables. Ensure that you add the environment variable to the web server’s configuration rather than relying on shell variables.

3. Verify PHP Access to the Variable

Once the above changes are made, test if PHP can now access the environment variable.

Create a simple PHP file to test:

<?php
$apiKey = getenv('SENDGRID_API_KEY');
echo $apiKey ? "API Key: $apiKey" : "No API Key found.";
?>

Access this file via your browser to verify if the API key is being printed.

4. Use .env Files with PHP (Optional)

Alternatively, you can use a .env file and load it into PHP with a library like vlucas/phpdotenv to manage environment variables in your application.

• Install the library using Composer:

composer require vlucas/phpdotenv

• Create a .env file in your project root:

SENDGRID_API_KEY=your_sendgrid_api_key_here

• In your PHP file, load the .env file:

require 'vendor/autoload.php';
$dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__);
$dotenv->load();

$apiKey = getenv('SENDGRID_API_KEY');
echo $apiKey;