---
title: "Laravel 5.0 - Environment Detection & Environment Variables"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/laravel-5-0---environment-detection-environment-variables-wqrmkwcpl
source_url: https://mattstauffer.com/blog/laravel-5.0-environment-detection-and-environment-variables
type: article
source: "Matt Stauffer"
published: 2026-05-31T07:51:05.156Z
updated: 2026-05-31T09:29:43.192Z
tags: ["php", "laravel"]
reading_time: 4
upvotes: 0
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# Laravel 5.0 - Environment Detection & Environment Variables

**[Matt Stauffer](https://daily.dev/sources/mattstauffer)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Laravel 5.0 replaces its complex multi-file environment detection system with PHP dotenv, loading configuration from a single .env file. The post explains how to use the .env.example file as a template committed to source control, how environment detection now works via a simple APP_ENV variable, how to reference one variable inside another, and how to enforce required variables using Dotenv::required() to catch missing config early.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://mattstauffer.com/blog/laravel-5.0-environment-detection-and-environment-variables>

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- [Environment Settings](https://daily.dev/posts/environment-settings-ldgqpd497) · Larablog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php), [#laravel](https://daily.dev/tags/laravel)

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