The original post: /r/programming by /u/noweh95 on 2024-12-29 11:34:13.

Environment variables play a crucial role in modern development, especially for managing sensitive data like API keys or environment-specific configurations. In PHP, there are two primary ways to access these variables: the getenv function and the $_ENV superglobal. While they may seem interchangeable, they behave differently and can cause issues if not used correctly.