File Settings

File settings keep setting values stored in files and can be overriden by the environment variables or application files.

# Config File Structure

Plugins can use file-based configuration files in the config subdirectory of the plugin directory. Below is an example of the plugin's config directory.

├── plugins
|   └── acme
|       └── todo
|           └── config
|               ├── config.php  ← Configuration File
|               └── custom.php  ← Configuration File

The configuration files are PHP scripts that define and return an array. The following is an example configuration file config.php.

return [
    'maxItems' => 10,
    'display' => 5
];

# Accessing Configuration Values

Use the Config facade for accessing the configuration values defined in the configuration file. The get method accepts the plugin and the configuration name (first argument) in the following format: acme.demo::maxItems. You may also define a default value (second argument) to return if the configuration parameter doesn't exist.

$maxItems = Config::get('acme.demo::maxItems', 50);

Using a different filename for the configuration file will affects the key name. For example, a configuration file named custom.php will prefix the key name with custom, using the following format: acme.demo::custom.maxItems. The following example is based on a configuration file named custom.php.

$maxItems = Config::get('acme.demo::custom.maxItems', 50);

# Overriding Configuration Values

A plugin configuration file can be overridden by the application by creating a local configuration file to match, for example, to override plugins/acme/demo/config/config.php, create a file called config/acme/todo/config.php.

├── config
|   └── acme
|       └── todo
|           └── config.php  ← Override File

Inside the overridden configuration file you can return only values you want to override.

return [
    'maxItems' => 20
];

If you want to use separate configurations across different environments (eg: dev, production), consider using the env() helper to pull the value from an environment variable. The env() function accepts the environment variable name (first argument) and an optional default value if the variable doesn't exist (second argument).

<?php

return [
    'maxItems' => env('ACME_TODO_MAX_ITEMS', 25)
];

This will change the maxItems value when the environment variable ACME_TODO_MAX_ITEMS is set to any other value. For example, inside the .env file for the application. See the configuration article to learn how to change these values depending on the environment.

ACME_TODO_MAX_ITEMS=10

# See Also