Reloading .env variables without restarting server (Laravel 5, shared hosting)

Question

My Laravel 5 has run OK until the database was configured, then found this error:

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name o         


        

Answer 1

In case anybody stumbles upon this question who cannot reload their webserver (long running console command like a queue runner) or needs to reload their .env file mid-request, i found a way to properly reload .env variables in laravel 5.

use Dotenv;
use InvalidArgumentException;

try {
    Dotenv::makeMutable();
    Dotenv::load(app()->environmentPath(), app()->environmentFile());
    Dotenv::makeImmutable();
} catch (InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    //
}