Laravel 5 Application Key

Just as another option if you want to print only the key (doesn't write the .env file) you can use:

php artisan key:generate --show

From the line

'key' => env('APP_KEY', 'SomeRandomString'),

APP_KEY is a global environment variable that is present inside the .env file.

You can replace the application key if you trigger

php artisan key:generate

command. This will always generate the new key.

The output may be like this:

---

Application key [Idgz1PE3zO9iNc0E3oeH3CHDPX9MzZe3] set successfully.

---

Application key [base64:uynE8re8ybt2wabaBjqMwQvLczKlDSQJHCepqxmGffE=] set successfully.

Base64 encoding should be the default in Laravel 5.4

Note that when you first create your Laravel application, key:generate is automatically called.

If you change the key be aware that passwords saved with Hash::make() will no longer be valid.

This line in your app.php, 'key' => env('APP_KEY', 'SomeRandomString'),, is saying that the key for your application can be found in your .env file on the line APP_KEY.

Basically it tells Laravel to look for the key in the .env file first and if there isn't one there then to use 'SomeRandomString'.

When you use the php artisan key:generate it will generate the new key to your .env file and not the app.php file.

As kotapeter said, your .env will be inside your root Laravel directory and may be hidden; xampp/htdocs/laravel/blog

You can generate a key by the following command:

php artisan key:generate 

The key will be written automatically in your .env file.

APP_KEY=YOUR_GENERATED_KEY

If you want to see your key after generation use --show option

php artisan key:generate --show

Note: The .env is a hidden file in your project folder.