What is difference between with and env - github-actions

Question

I am new to github actions, and I see two things used for configuring the steps (correct me if i am wrong), with and env.
What is the difference between these two and how they are used.
uses: someAction
with:
x: 10
y: 20
env:
x1: 30
y2: 40

Answer 1

with - is specifically used for passing parameters to the action
env - is used specifically for introducing environment variables that can be accessed depending on scope of the resource
workflow envs - can be accessed by all resources in the workflow except services
job envs - can be accessed by all resources under job except services
step envs - can be accessed by any resource within the step
Here is an example on how parameters are handled
Let's say an action is created with following parameter in action.yaml
name: 'Npm Audit Action'
inputs:
dirPath:
description: 'Directory path of the project to audit'
required: true
default: './'
Then we will provide this parameter through the with tag in our workflow
- name: Use the action
uses: meroware/npm-audit-action#v1.0.2
with:
dirPath: vulnerable-project
Then in the action code we would handle it as such if building a Node.js action
const core = require("#actions/core");
const dirPath = core.getInput("dirPath");
Envs within actions are accessed differently, let's say we are building a Node.js action, then we would access it through process.env. Going back to our example action
name: 'Npm Audit Action'
env:
SOME_ENV: 'hey I am an env'
Then this could be accessed as
const { someEnv: SOME_ENV } = process.env

Answer 2

You can see in the documentation with: used to define a variable.
While env defines an environmnent variable, as defined here and in jobs.<job_id>.env
an environment variable defined in a step will override job and workflow variables with the same name, while the step executes.
A variable defined for a job will override a workflow variable with the same name, while the job executes.
You need both to access secrets:
steps:
- name: Hello world action
with: # Set the secret as an input
super_secret: ${{ secrets.SuperSecret }}
env: # Or as an environment variable
super_secret: ${{ secrets.SuperSecret }}