htaccess SetEnv directive is not working in MAMP pro 6 - php

Question

I have a solution develop with PHP
Framework Phalcon 3.4.5
macOS 12.6
PHP 7.3.33
MAMP Pro 6
I have this .htaccess that is in my root folder:
A SetEnv directive is set like that:
<IfModule mod_env.c>
SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV=development
</IfModule>
The right env module are loaded in Apache:
mod_env.so
mod_setenvif.so
My host config have AllowAoverride All
My AccessFileName is set to htaccess
I use this code in my index file to read the environment variable and I can't get the value.
defined('ENVIRONMENT') || define('ENVIRONMENT', (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') : 'production'));
echo ENVIRONMENT . PHP_EOL;
Considering the SetEnv in the htaccess, should get development has a value, but I keep getting production.
I did test to be sure that mod_env and mod_setenvif are loaded. There is no error in my apache log and php log.
I have no clue why. Any help will be welcome here?
Thank you!

Answer 1

Environment variables set with SetEnv in an htaccess file are available in the Apache environment, so you should use apache_getenv() or the $_SERVER superglobal to access the variable rather than getenv().
You appear to be using SetEnv correctly, and the rest of your setup looks fine.
Perhaps you may be interested in a .env file instead in your root directory, and using vlucas/dotenv to load it in, and use Dotenv in your code instead.
Here's an example of using that package:
$dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__);
$dotenv->load();
It will look for an .env file in __DIR__ and load them into your environment, making them available via getenv()