I'm attempting to load an RSA private key into my nodejs application using environment variables, but the newlines seem to be being auto-escaped.
For the following, assume that the PRIVATE_KEY
env var is set to the following (not my actual key):
PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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\n37sJ5QsW+sJyoNde3xH8vdXhzU7eT82D6X/scw9RZz+/6rCJ4p0=\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
If I call console.log
directly with the preceding string, I get the following as output:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- MIICXAIBAAKBgQCqGKukO1De7zhZj6+H0qtjTkVxwTCpvKe4eCZ0FPqri0cb2JZfXJ/DgYSF6vUp wmJG8wVQZKjeGcjDOL5UlsuusFncCzWBQ7RKNUSesmQRMSGkVb1/3j+skZ6UtW+5u09lHNsj6tQ5 1s1SPrCBkedbNf0Tp0GbMJDyR4e9T04ZZwIDAQABAoGAFijko56+qGyN8M0RVyaRAXz++xTqHBLh 3tx4VgMtrQ+WEgCjhoTwo23KMBAuJGSYnRmoBZM3lMfTKevIkAidPExvYCdm5dYq3XToLkkLv5L2 pIIVOFMDG+KESnAFV7l2c+cnzRMW0+b6f8mR1CJzZuxVLL6Q02fvLi55/mbSYxECQQDeAw6fiIQX GukBI4eMZZt4nscy2o12KyYner3VpoeE+Np2q+Z3pvAMd/aNzQ/W9WaI+NRfcxUJrmfPwIGm63il AkEAxCL5HQb2bQr4ByorcMWm/hEP2MZzROV73yF41hPsRC9m66KrheO9HPTJuo3/9s5p+sqGxOlF L0NDt4SkosjgGwJAFklyR1uZ/wPJjj611cdBcztlPdqoxssQGnh85BzCj/u3WqBpE2vjvyyvyI5k X6zk7S0ljKtt2jny2+00VsBerQJBAJGC1Mg5Oydo5NwD6BiROrPxGo2bpTbu/fhrT8ebHkTz2epl U9VQQSQzY1oZMVX8i1m5WUTLPz2yLJIBQVdXqhMCQBGoiuSoSjafUhV7i1cEGpb88h5NBYZzWXGZ 37sJ5QsW+sJyoNde3xH8vdXhzU7eT82D6X/scw9RZz+/6rCJ4p0= -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
You can see that the newline chars are being respected. However, if I call console.log(process.env["PRIVATE_KEY"])
, the output contains the \n
literal instead of actual newlines:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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\n37sJ5QsW+sJyoNde3xH8vdXhzU7eT82D6X/scw9RZz+/6rCJ4p0=\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
I've been trying to find more information online about how node processes environment variables with no luck. How do I load this key via env vars while maintaining newline characters? If that's not possible, how can I restore them?
When you run a Docker container, you can pass environment variables to the run command. However, the --env-file option has a limitation in that it doesn't handle newline characters.
You really do not need to set up your own environment to start learning Node. js.
Just replace \n
before use the value:
var private_value = process.env.PRIVATE_KEY.replace(/\\n/g, '\n'); console.log(private_value);
will result correctly:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- MIICXAIBAAKBgQCqGKukO1De7zhZj6+H0qtjTkVxwTCpvKe4eCZ0FPqri0cb2JZfXJ/DgYSF6vUp wmJG8wVQZKjeGcjDOL5UlsuusFncCzWBQ7RKNUSesmQRMSGkVb1/3j+skZ6UtW+5u09lHNsj6tQ5 1s1SPrCBkedbNf0Tp0GbMJDyR4e9T04ZZwIDAQABAoGAFijko56+qGyN8M0RVyaRAXz++xTqHBLh 3tx4VgMtrQ+WEgCjhoTwo23KMBAuJGSYnRmoBZM3lMfTKevIkAidPExvYCdm5dYq3XToLkkLv5L2 pIIVOFMDG+KESnAFV7l2c+cnzRMW0+b6f8mR1CJzZuxVLL6Q02fvLi55/mbSYxECQQDeAw6fiIQX GukBI4eMZZt4nscy2o12KyYner3VpoeE+Np2q+Z3pvAMd/aNzQ/W9WaI+NRfcxUJrmfPwIGm63il AkEAxCL5HQb2bQr4ByorcMWm/hEP2MZzROV73yF41hPsRC9m66KrheO9HPTJuo3/9s5p+sqGxOlF L0NDt4SkosjgGwJAFklyR1uZ/wPJjj611cdBcztlPdqoxssQGnh85BzCj/u3WqBpE2vjvyyvyI5k X6zk7S0ljKtt2jny2+00VsBerQJBAJGC1Mg5Oydo5NwD6BiROrPxGo2bpTbu/fhrT8ebHkTz2epl U9VQQSQzY1oZMVX8i1m5WUTLPz2yLJIBQVdXqhMCQBGoiuSoSjafUhV7i1cEGpb88h5NBYZzWXGZ 37sJ5QsW+sJyoNde3xH8vdXhzU7eT82D6X/scw9RZz+/6rCJ4p0= -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
dotenv supports newlines with double quotes:
double quoted values expand new lines
MULTILINE="new\nline"
becomes{MULTILINE: 'new line'}
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With