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Signature

function envStrings(key: string, fallback?: string[]): string[]
Obtains an environment variable as a comma-separated list of strings.

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Parameters

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key
string
required
The name of the environment variable to read
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fallback
string[]
Optional fallback array if the environment variable is not set. If not provided and the variable is missing, an error will be thrown.

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Returns

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strings
string[]
An array of strings parsed from the comma-separated environment variable or fallback

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Behavior

  • Reads the environment variable and trims whitespace
  • Falls back to a comma-joined string of the fallback array if the variable is not set
  • Throws an error if both the variable and fallback are missing
  • Splits the string by commas
  • Trims whitespace from each individual string
  • Filters out empty strings after trimming

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Error Handling

  • Throws Error with message "$KEY is missing" when the environment variable is not set and no fallback is provided

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Example

import { envStrings } from "@natoboram/load_env"

// With fallback
export const ALLOWED_ORIGINS = envStrings("ALLOWED_ORIGINS", ["*"])

// Without fallback (will throw if not set)
export const CORS_DOMAINS = envStrings("CORS_DOMAINS")

// Usage examples:
// ALLOWED_ORIGINS="example1,example2,example3" → ["example1", "example2", "example3"]
// ALLOWED_ORIGINS="a, b , c" → ["a", "b", "c"] (trimmed)
// ALLOWED_ORIGINS="a,,b" → ["a", "b"] (empty strings filtered)
// ALLOWED_ORIGINS not set → ["*"] (uses fallback)

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