title: Sending .Net Core application settings to kubernetes pods as environment variables
body: <p>I'm hosting some stuff as an AppService in Azure and use environment variables to differentiate settings for different slots (test, dev etc).</p>
  
  <p>If the AppSettings.json file contains a structure like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
     "ConnectionString": {
        "MyDb": "SomeConnectionString"
     }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I can set the environment variable "ConnectionString:MyDb" to "SomeConnectionString" and .Net Core will understand that the <code>:</code> means child level.</p>
  
  <p>But in Kubernetes I cannot use <code>:</code> as part of the environment key. Is there another way to handle hierarchy or do I need to switch to flat settings? </p>