Laravel - custom .env file

Use Dotenv::load() for custom .env file

laravel 5.1 with vlucas/phpdotenv ~1.0

if ($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] == 'prod.domain.com') {
    Dotenv::load(__DIR__ . '/../','.production.env');
} else {
    Dotenv::load(__DIR__ . '/../','.dev.env');
}

OR

laravel 5.2 with vlucas/phpdotenv ~2.0

$dotenv = new Dotenv\Dotenv(__DIR__, 'myconfig'); // Laravel 5.2
$dotenv->load();

PHP dotenv

In bootstrap/app.php

Nadeem0035 gave me pretty good idea what to do

bootstrap\app.php right before return $app;

$envFile = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] == 'prod.domain.com' ? '.env-production' : '.env-dev';
$app->loadEnvironmentFrom($envFile);

I like to add a solution for people who have a shared codebase for many vhosts that all need different .env files for all the different things, like database connections, smtp settings etc.

For every vhost, on Apache, create a vhost config:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your-vhost.yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/shared-codebase/public

    SetEnv VHOST_NAME 'your-vhost'

    <Directory "/var/www/shared-codebase/public">
    Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride all
    Order deny,allow
    Require all granted
    </Directory>

    <IfModule mpm_itk_module>
       AssignUserId your-vhost your-vhost
    </IfModule>

    ErrorLog /var/www/your-vhost/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/your-vhost/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

All vhosts have the same document root and directory, because it is a shared codebase. Inside the config we added a SetEnv VHOST_NAME 'your-vhost' which we will later use in Laravel's bootstrap.php to change the location of vhost specific .env.

Next create the custom .env file in a folder(fe. /var/www/your-vhost/.env) the alter bootstrap.php so that it loads the .env from the right location.

<?php

$app = new Illuminate\Foundation\Application(
    realpath(__DIR__.'/../')
);

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel::class,
    App\Http\Kernel::class
);

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel::class,
    App\Console\Kernel::class
);

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Debug\ExceptionHandler::class,
    App\Exceptions\Handler::class
);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Add the location of the custom env file
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/    
$app->useEnvironmentPath('/var/www/'.$_SERVER['VHOST_NAME']);

return $app;

That's all.

[edit] I you want to target a specific database or want to generate a key for a specific .env, then you should put the VHOST_NAME in front of the artisan command.

VHOST_NAME=tenant2.domain.com php artisan key:generate

[edit] When working locally and are using Laravel Valet, then you can add a custom .valet-env.php in the root of your codebase. https://laravel.com/docs/master/valet#site-specific-environment-variables