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Managing Environment Variables in Python

The document explains how to work with environment variables in Python using the os package, specifically the os.environ attribute and the os.getenv function. It provides a script example that reads the 'STAGE' environment variable and handles cases where it may not be set, defaulting to 'DEV' if necessary. The document highlights the potential KeyError when using os.environ directly and suggests using os.getenv to avoid this issue.

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Faisal Saeed Saeed
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13 views2 pages

Managing Environment Variables in Python

The document explains how to work with environment variables in Python using the os package, specifically the os.environ attribute and the os.getenv function. It provides a script example that reads the 'STAGE' environment variable and handles cases where it may not be set, defaulting to 'DEV' if necessary. The document highlights the potential KeyError when using os.environ directly and suggests using os.getenv to avoid this issue.

Uploaded by

Faisal Saeed Saeed
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Python Documentation For This Video

 The os package
 The [Link] attribute
 The [Link] function

Working with Environment Variables

By importing the os package, we’re able to access a lot of miscellaneous operating system level
attributes and functions, not the least of which is the environ object. This object behaves like a
dictionary, so we can use the subscript operation to read from it.

Let’s create a simple script that will read a 'STAGE' environment variable and print out what
stage we’re currently running in:

~/bin/running

#!/usr/bin/env python3.6

import os

stage = [Link]["STAGE"].upper()

output = f"We're running in {stage}"

if [Link]("PROD"):
output = "DANGER!!! - " + output

print(output)

We can set the environment variable when we run the script to test the differences:

$ STAGE=staging running
We're running in STAGING
$ STAGE=production running
DANGER!!! - We're running in PRODUCTION

What happens if the 'STAGE' environment variable isn’t set though?

$ running
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/user/bin/running", line 5, in
stage = [Link]["STAGE"].upper()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/[Link]", line 669, in __getitem__
raise KeyError(key) from None
KeyError: 'STAGE'

This potential KeyError is the biggest downfall of using [Link], and the reason that we
will usually use [Link].
Handling A Missing Environment Variable

If the 'STAGE' environment variable isn’t set, then we want to default to 'DEV', and we can do
that by using the [Link] function:

~/bin/running

#!/usr/bin/env python3.6

import os

stage = [Link]("STAGE", "dev").upper()

output = f"We're running in {stage}"

if [Link]("PROD"):
output = "DANGER!!! - " + output

print(output)

Now if we run our script without a 'STAGE' we won’t have an error:

$ running
We're running in DEV

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