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Unable to escape posix expansion

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#422 2 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@theskumar is already working on this.

Since Apr 8, 2025.

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Description

What

Unable to elegantly escape the $ in ${VARIABLE} expansion.

Scenario

.env

VAR=${VARIABLE}

script.py

import os
import dotenv

if dotenv.find_dotenv():
    dotenv.load_dotenv(interpolate=False)

print(f"VAR={os.getenv('VAR')}"

I do not see the interpolate kwarg in the documentation, however looking at the stub: https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/blob/914c68ef0e4c2c085d2753f5cbbf304852f37850/src/dotenv/main.py#L307-L330

*Edit: and the pypi documentation:

image

Expected Behavior

output

>> VAR='${VARIABLE}'

Actual Behavior

output

>> VAR=''

Workaround

My current workaround is to provide the desired string as a default value for variable expansion.

.env

VAR=${_:-${VARIABLE}]

output

>> VAR='${VARIABLE}'

System

Host: Windows 11
Python: 3.10 w/ Poetry environment

Dominant language
Python
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