How to Set up and read a .env file in node.js?

In five easy steps, we’ll update.gitignore, create a.env file, and read it:

1. Add .env to gitignore

# dotenv environment variables file
.env
.env.test

2. Install npm package dotenv

npm i dotenv

3. It’s time to use our env variables.
   Add some variable to your .env file, for exemple we’re going to add a status for our nodejs app and define two different ports, one for development status and one for production

STATUS =production
DEV_PORT =7000
PROD_PORT = 8000

4. add this in the beginning of your index.js file to load .env file

require("dotenv").config();

5. Then in our entry point we’re testing if the STATUS is production we’re going to use the PROD_PORT else we’re using the DEV_PORT
   
6. Run the application Change the status variable in your .env and see what happens