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Mention case-insensitivity in process.env docs #9157

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Mention case-insensitivity in process.env docs#9157
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docIssues and PRs related to Node.js documentation.good first issueIssues that are suitable for first-time contributors.processIssues and PRs related to the process subsystem.testIssues and PRs related to Node.js core tests and test infrastructure.

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@oliversalzburg
oliversalzburg
opened on Oct 18, 2016

On Windows OS, environment variables are case-insensitive.

14:46 $ node
> process.env.foo = "lol"
'lol'
> process.env.fOo
'lol'

I think it could be beneficial to make a note about this in the docs.

Activity

  1. addaleax
    added
    docIssues and PRs related to Node.js documentation.
    windowsIssues and PRs related to the Windows platform.
    good first issueIssues that are suitable for first-time contributors.
    processIssues and PRs related to the process subsystem.
    testIssues and PRs related to Node.js core tests and test infrastructure.
    and removed
    windowsIssues and PRs related to the Windows platform.
    on Oct 18, 2016

  2. addaleax commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @addaleax
    addaleax
    on Oct 18, 2016
    Member

    It might also be good to add tests for this behaviour to detect platform differences or keep us from accidentally changing anything here.

    Would you be interested in writing a pull request to add this yourself? The files to edit should be doc/api/process.md and/or test/parallel/test-process-env.js.

  3. oliversalzburg commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @oliversalzburg
    oliversalzburg
    on Oct 18, 2016
    ContributorAuthor

    @addaleax I'm not quite sure how to properly test this behavior, as the behavior would likely change depending on which OS you're running the test on. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and I'd be happy to write the test as well.

  4. addaleax commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @addaleax
    addaleax
    on Oct 18, 2016
    Member

    @oliversalzburg There’s https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/doc/guides/writing_tests.md for generic “How to write a test” things, and you can check for common.isWindows in tests to see whether the test is running on Windows or not. Ideally, you’d check that other OS show the opposite behaviour, to make sure that it’s really only Windows that does this.

  5. oliversalzburg commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @oliversalzburg
    oliversalzburg
    on Oct 18, 2016
    ContributorAuthor

    @addaleax Ah, sounds good. Thanks for the help :)

  6. oliversalzburg commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @oliversalzburg
    oliversalzburg
    on Oct 18, 2016
    ContributorAuthor

    @addaleax Is there also a guide for building Node on Windows? Because I'm getting a bunch of linker errors when trying to vcbuild test nosign with Visual Studio 2015.

  7. addaleax commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @addaleax
    addaleax
    on Oct 18, 2016
    Member

    I am afraid I can only ask @nodejs/platform-windows, but it might help if you have the errors somewhere in a gist or something

  8. oliversalzburg commented on Oct 18, 2016

    @oliversalzburg
    oliversalzburg
    on Oct 18, 2016
    ContributorAuthor

    Alright, I'll put the information into the PR. Thanks again

  9. joaocgreis commented on Oct 19, 2016

    @joaocgreis
    joaocgreis
    on Oct 19, 2016
    Member

    For reference, guide for building on Windows: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/BUILDING.md#windows

  10. nfischer commented on Oct 20, 2016

    @nfischer
    nfischer
    on Oct 20, 2016

    So does this mean that process.env is guaranteed to have case-insensitive keys on Windows, even going back to v4? I've hunted in the past for documentation, couldn't find anything, so I just assumed that was the case. Thanks.

  11. 4 remaining items

  12. benjamingr
    added a commit that references this issue on Oct 25, 2016

    test: case sensitivity of env variables

    2a45616
  13. evanlucas
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Nov 2, 2016

    doc: mention case-insensitive env on windows

    d1c32aa

    test: case sensitivity of env variables

    44427cc
  14. MylesBorins
    added 4 commits that reference this issue on Nov 17, 2016

    test: case sensitivity of env variables

    90b7298

    doc: mention case-insensitive env on windows

    10e900f

    test: case sensitivity of env variables

    1d79af6

    doc: mention case-insensitive env on windows

    6f212b9
  15. VDT-91
    added a commit that references this issue on Jan 17, 2026

    fix(windows): remove dead PYTHONSTARTUP code, fix PATH case sensitivity

    e946a31
  16. AndyMik90
    added a commit that references this issue on Jan 17, 2026

    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (#1244)

    cb786ca
  17. sameerchopra082
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 16, 2026

    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (#1244)

    8d63be1
  18. tleub-ebp
    added a commit that references this issue on Apr 2, 2026

    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (#1244)

    bfaab98
  19. sjarmak
    added a commit that references this issue on Jul 27, 2026

    doc: mention case-insensitive env on windows

    0a8d0ea
  20. fairyhunter13
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Oct 1, 2026

    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (And…

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    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (And…

    f2ef090

    fix(windows): resolve pywin32 DLL loading failure on Python 3.8+ (And…

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