Issue with special chars in .env file

General
1

Have variables in the .env file with '*' and '!' chars in them. Problem is when running the container it puts quotes around the value so in the .env file : VAR1=docker321*! becomes 'docker321*! in the container environment. Tried escaping like docker321\*\! and still the same thing happens. Any way around this?

2

I’ve tried to fix your post by adding Markdown backticks for `code`, to ensure whatever you typed is not interpreted by the forum when being displayed. But please use the gray pencil icon/button to edit your post, as I doubt that the single quote is only added as a prefix in 'docker321*!? Did you mean 'docker321*!'?

3

In docker compose espacping is done with the $ character, not sure if it applies to the env-files as well though.

4

Tried it and the result is “docker321$*$!” so no, doesn’t work with env vars.

5

I’d say it’s not an issue with special characters. Even all of the following in an .env file is quoted, at least when shown with set:

a=123
b=abc456
c='123'
d='abc456'
e="123"
f="abc456"

docker run --rm -it --env-file .env busybox /bin/sh -c set
HOME='/root'
HOSTNAME='1d3be219cb86'
...
TERM='xterm'
a='123'
b='abc456'
c=''"'"'123'"'"
d=''"'"'abc456'"'"
e='"123"'
f='"abc456"'

However, no additional quoting with echo:

docker run --rm --env-file .env busybox /bin/sh -c 'echo $b'
abc456

docker run --rm --env-file .env busybox /bin/sh -c 'echo $d'
'abc456'

docker run --rm --env-file .env busybox /bin/sh -c 'echo $f'
"abc456"

(And yes, same for a=docker321*! and the like, also when using docker run --rm -it --env-file .env busybox and running the set and echo commands on the prompt.)

So, what exactly are you doing?