Get environment value in controller

Try it with:

<?php $hostname = env("IMAP_HOSTNAME_TEST", "somedefaultvalue"); ?>

To simplify: Only configuration files can access environment variables - and then pass them on.

Step 1.) Add your variable to your .env file, for example,

EXAMPLE_URL="http://google.com"

Step 2.) Create a new file inside of the config folder, with any name, for example,

config/example.php

Step 3.) Inside of this new file, I add an array being returned, containing that environment variable.

<?php
return [
  'url' => env('EXAMPLE_URL')
];

Step 4.) Because I named it "example", my configuration 'namespace' is now example. So now, in my controller I can access this variable with:

$url = \config('example.url');

Tip - if you add use Config; at the top of your controller, you don't need the backslash (which designates the root namespace). For example,

namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Config; // Added this line

class ExampleController extends Controller
{
    public function url() {
        return config('example.url');
    }
}

Finally, commit the changes:

php artisan config:cache

--- IMPORTANT --- Remember to enter php artisan config:cache into the console once you have created your example.php file. Configuration files and variables are cached, so if you make changes you need to flush that cache - the same applies to the .env file being changed / added to.

It Doesn't work in Laravel 5.3+ if you want to try to access the value from the controller like below. It always returns null

<?php

    $value = env('MY_VALUE', 'default_value');

SOLUTION: Rather, you need to create a file in the configuration folder, say values.php and then write the code like below

File values.php

<?php

    return [

        'myvalue' => env('MY_VALUE',null),

        // Add other values as you wish

Then access the value in your controller with the following code

<?php

    $value = \Config::get('values.myvalue')

Where "values" is the filename followed by the key "myvalue".