🔐 .env File Parser

Paste the contents of a .env file to see each variable in a table and as JSON. Comments (#) and blank lines are ignored. Nothing you paste leaves your browser — still, avoid pasting real production secrets into any web page, this one included.

.env content

The parsing rules, exactly

Each line is trimmed, then dropped if it is empty or begins with #. What is left must contain an =: everything before the first one is the key, everything after it is the value, and one matching pair of surrounding single or double quotes is removed.

APP_NAME=MyApp                                  -> MyApp
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db" -> postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db
PORT=3000                                        -> "3000"  (a string, not a number)

A repeated key keeps the last value but its original position in the table, and a line with no = is skipped in silence rather than reported as an error.

Syntax it does not understand

Inline comments. PORT=3000 # the API port yields the value 3000 # the API port. Put comments on their own line.
export prefixes and interpolation. export API_KEY=abc parses the key as export API_KEY, and URL=${HOST}/v1 is kept literally - no other variable is substituted.
Multi-line values. A quoted value spanning several lines, such as a pasted private key, is read one line at a time and comes out broken.

Parsing happens in this page's JavaScript and nothing is uploaded, but a real production .env still belongs in a secret manager, not in a browser tab.

Frequently asked questions

Why is every value in the JSON a string?

Because that is what environment variables are. The operating system hands your process text, so DEBUG=false arrives as the string "false" - which is truthy in most languages. Convert types deliberately in your config layer.

Should a .env file be committed to git?

No. Add .env to .gitignore and commit a .env.example with the same keys and empty or dummy values, so the list of required settings is shared without the secrets.

Do I need quotes around .env values?

Only when the value has leading or trailing spaces you want to keep, or a # that would otherwise read as a comment in stricter parsers. Plain URLs, numbers and passwords without spaces are fine unquoted.