title: Preload the env file from custom path
body: <p>I am trying to preload the .env file when the node application starts.</p>
  
  <p>I have the following configuration but whenever I run <code>npm run start:dev</code> i get error.</p>
  
  <pre><code>"scripts": {
      "lint": "tslint --project tsconfig.json",
      "build": "tsc",
      "prestart": "npm run build",
      "start": "node .",
      "start:dev": "node -r dotenv/config . dotenv_config_path=/.dev.env",
      "start:test": "node -r dotenv/config . dotenv_config_path=/.test.env",
      "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" &amp;&amp; exit 1"
    },
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or </p>
  
  <pre><code>"scripts": {
      "lint": "tslint --project tsconfig.json",
      "build": "tsc",
      "prestart": "npm run build",
      "start": "node .",
      "start:dev": "node -r dotenv/config . dotenv_config_path=./.dev.env",
      "start:test": "node -r dotenv/config . dotenv_config_path=./.test.env",
      "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" &amp;&amp; exit 1"
    },
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My app structure looks like following</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ep7Q2.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ep7Q2.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>Also I have read about not to use multiple config files so I am aware of the drawbacks but I just want to try and see how this will work.</p>
  
  <p>Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!!!</p>
  
  <p>Update#1 -- Error</p>
  
  <pre><code>Error: Cannot find module 'C:\Development\index.js'
      at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:580:15)
      at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:506:25)
      at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:741:12)
      at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:285:19)
      at bootstrapNodeJSCore (internal/bootstrap/node.js:739:3)
  npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
  npm ERR! errno 1
  npm ERR! development@1.0.0 start:dev: `node -r dotenv/config index.js dotenv_config_path=/.dev.env`
  npm ERR! Exit status 1
  npm ERR!
  npm ERR! Failed at the development@1.0.0 start:dev script.
  npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
  
  npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
  npm ERR!     C:\Users\nikhil\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-06-05T10_11_48_699Z-debug.log
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Log file ---</p>
  
  <pre><code>0 info it worked if it ends with ok
  1 verbose cli [ 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
  1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
  1 verbose cli   'run',
  1 verbose cli   'start:dev' ]
  2 info using npm@6.4.1
  3 info using node@v10.13.0
  4 verbose run-script [ 'prestart:dev', 'start:dev', 'poststart:dev' ]
  5 info lifecycle development@1.0.0~prestart:dev: development@1.0.0
  6 info lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: development@1.0.0
  7 verbose lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
  8 verbose lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: PATH: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\node-gyp-bin;C:\Development\node_modules\.bin;
  9 verbose lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: CWD: C:\Development
  10 silly lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: Args: [ '/d /s /c',
  10 silly lifecycle   'node -r dotenv/config index.js dotenv_config_path=/.dev.env' ]
  11 silly lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: Returned: code: 1  signal: null
  12 info lifecycle development@1.0.0~start:dev: Failed to exec start:dev script
  13 verbose stack Error: development@1.0.0 start:dev: `node -r dotenv/config index.js dotenv_config_path=/.dev.env`
  13 verbose stack Exit status 1
  13 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.&lt;anonymous&gt; (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\index.js:301:16)
  13 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:182:13)
  13 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.&lt;anonymous&gt; (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\lib\spawn.js:55:14)
  13 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:182:13)
  13 verbose stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:962:16)
  13 verbose stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:251:5)
  14 verbose pkgid development@1.0.0
  15 verbose cwd C:\Development
  16 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.16299
  17 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "run" "start:dev"
  18 verbose node v10.13.0
  19 verbose npm  v6.4.1
  20 error code ELIFECYCLE
  21 error errno 1
  22 error development@1.0.0 start:dev: `node -r dotenv/config index.js dotenv_config_path=/.dev.env`
  22 error Exit status 1
  23 error Failed at the development@1.0.0 start:dev script.
  23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
  24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]
  </code></pre>