# API Config

Creating a `.env` file is a common way to manage environment variables that your application might need. In your specific case, since the code is looking for an API key in a configuration file, you can create the `.env` file in the following way:

1. Open a text editor like Notepad, Sublime Text, VS Code, or any code editor you prefer.
2. Write the configuration information in the following format:

   ```ini
   [API]
   key = YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
   ```

   Replace `YOUR_API_KEY_HERE` with the actual API key you want to use.

3. Save this file with the name `.env` in the directory where your `api_config.py` script resides.

Note that you don't necessarily have to name the file `.env` if you provide the exact path in the `get_api_key` function. In the example above, it expects a file with that name because of this line in the script:

```python
get_api_key(config_file_path=".env")
```

```ini
[API]
key = YOUR_API_KEY_HERE

[PATHS]
config_path = /path/to/your/config/file
```

If you're going to access these values in your code, you'll need to modify the code to read the additional parameters accordingly.

Here's an example of how you could modify the `get_api_key` function to also read a path variable:

```python
def get_api_key(config_file_path):
    config = configparser.ConfigParser()

    if not os.path.exists(config_file_path):
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"Config file not found at '{config_file_path}'")

    config.read(config_file_path)

    if "API" not in config or "key" not in config["API"]:
        raise ValueError("API key not found in config file")

    if "PATHS" in config and "config_path" in config["PATHS"]:
        config_path = config["PATHS"]["config_path"]
        # You can now use the config_path variable as needed

    return config["API"]["key"]
```

Including the `.env` file in your `.gitignore` file is a good practice, as it prevents the file from being tracked by Git. This helps keep sensitive information out of your public code repositories. If different environments (e.g., development, staging, production) need different `.env` files, you can manage them separately without version-controlling the actual files.
