How to generate .env file for laravel?

Just tried both ways and in both ways I got generated .env file:

Composer should automatically create .env file. In the post-create-project-cmd section of the composer.json you can find:

"post-create-project-cmd": [  "php -r \"copy('.env.example', '.env');\"",  "php artisan key:generate"]

Both ways use the same composer.json file, so there shoudn't be any difference.

I suggest you to update laravel/installer to the last version: 1.2 and try again:

composer global require "laravel/installer=~1.2"

You can always generate .env file manually by running:

cp .env.example .envphp artisan key:generate

In windows OS, you can open command prompt, change directory to your project directory.
Example,
My project directory

E:\xampp\htdocs\my_project

You can type into your Command prompt like this (hit enter each line):

E:cd xampp\htdocs\my_project

Then you can type,

copy .env.example .env

If you are using Linux, you can type cp, instead of copy

I had this problem of no .env files showing up in the project.

Turns out the IDE I was using (Netbeans, try not to judge) will show certain types of .hidden files but not all.

After racking my brains for a bit I checked the file system and found the .env + .env.example files / modified them with a text editor.

Leaving this answer for the rare situation someones using a dodgy IDE like myself.