- Basic Routing
- Route Parameters
- Named Routes
- Route Groups
- Route Model Binding
- Fallback Routes
- Rate Limiting
- Form Method Spoofing
- Accessing The Current Route
- Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
The most basic Laravel routes accept a URI and a Closure, providing a very simple and expressive method of defining routes:
Route::get('foo', function () {
return 'Hello World';
});
All Laravel routes are defined in your route files, which are located in the routes directory. These files are automatically loaded by the framework. The routes/web.php file defines routes that are for your web interface. These routes are assigned the web middleware group, which provides features like session state and CSRF protection. The routes in routes/api.php are stateless and are assigned the api middleware group.
For most applications, you will begin by defining routes in your routes/web.php file. The routes defined in routes/web.php may be accessed by entering the defined route's URL in your browser. For example, you may access the following route by navigating to http://your-app.test/user in your browser:
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;
Route::get('/user', [UserController::class, 'index']);
Routes defined in the routes/api.php file are nested within a route group by the RouteServiceProvider. Within this group, the /api URI prefix is automatically applied so you do not need to manually apply it to every route in the file. You may modify the prefix and other route group options by modifying your RouteServiceProvider class.
The router allows you to register routes that respond to any HTTP verb:
Route::get($uri, $callback);
Route::post($uri, $callback);
Route::put($uri, $callback);
Route::patch($uri, $callback);
Route::delete($uri, $callback);
Route::options($uri, $callback);
Sometimes you may need to register a route that responds to multiple HTTP verbs. You may do so using the match method. Or, you may even register a route that responds to all HTTP verbs using the any method:
Route::match(['get', 'post'], '/', function () {
//
});
Route::any('/', function () {
//
});
Any HTML forms pointing to POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE routes that are defined in the web routes file should include a CSRF token field. Otherwise, the request will be rejected. You can read more about CSRF protection in the CSRF documentation:
<form method="POST" action="/profile">
@csrf
...
</form>
If you are defining a route that redirects to another URI, you may use the Route::redirect method. This method provides a convenient shortcut so that you do not have to define a full route or controller for performing a simple redirect:
Route::redirect('/here', '/there');
By default, Route::redirect returns a 302 status code. You may customize the status code using the optional third parameter:
Route::redirect('/here', '/there', 301);
You may use the Route::permanentRedirect method to return a 301 status code:
Route::permanentRedirect('/here', '/there');
{note} When using route parameters in redirect routes, the following parameters are reserved by Laravel and cannot be used:
destinationandstatus.
If your route only needs to return a view, you may use the Route::view method. Like the redirect method, this method provides a simple shortcut so that you do not have to define a full route or controller. The view method accepts a URI as its first argument and a view name as its second argument. In addition, you may provide an array of data to pass to the view as an optional third argument:
Route::view('/welcome', 'welcome');
Route::view('/welcome', 'welcome', ['name' => 'Taylor']);
{note} When using route parameters in view routes, the following parameters are reserved by Laravel and cannot be used:
view,data,status, andheaders.
Sometimes you will need to capture segments of the URI within your route. For example, you may need to capture a user's ID from the URL. You may do so by defining route parameters:
Route::get('user/{id}', function ($id) {
return 'User '.$id;
});
You may define as many route parameters as required by your route:
Route::get('posts/{post}/comments/{comment}', function ($postId, $commentId) {
//
});
Route parameters are always encased within {} braces and should consist of alphabetic characters, and may not contain a - character. Instead of using the - character, use an underscore (_). Route parameters are injected into route callbacks / controllers based on their order - the names of the callback / controller arguments do not matter.
Occasionally you may need to specify a route parameter, but make the presence of that route parameter optional. You may do so by placing a ? mark after the parameter name. Make sure to give the route's corresponding variable a default value:
Route::get('user/{name?}', function ($name = null) {
return $name;
});
Route::get('user/{name?}', function ($name = 'John') {
return $name;
});
You may constrain the format of your route parameters using the where method on a route instance. The where method accepts the name of the parameter and a regular expression defining how the parameter should be constrained:
Route::get('user/{name}', function ($name) {
//
})->where('name', '[A-Za-z]+');
Route::get('user/{id}', function ($id) {
//
})->where('id', '[0-9]+');
Route::get('user/{id}/{name}', function ($id, $name) {
//
})->where(['id' => '[0-9]+', 'name' => '[a-z]+']);
If you would like a route parameter to always be constrained by a given regular expression, you may use the pattern method. You should define these patterns in the boot method of your RouteServiceProvider:
/**
* Define your route model bindings, pattern filters, etc.
*
* @return void
*/
public function boot()
{
Route::pattern('id', '[0-9]+');
}
Once the pattern has been defined, it is automatically applied to all routes using that parameter name:
Route::get('user/{id}', function ($id) {
// Only executed if {id} is numeric...
});
The Laravel routing component allows all characters except /. You must explicitly allow / to be part of your placeholder using a where condition regular expression:
Route::get('search/{search}', function ($search) {
return $search;
})->where('search', '.*');
{note} Encoded forward slashes are only supported within the last route segment.
Named routes allow the convenient generation of URLs or redirects for specific routes. You may specify a name for a route by chaining the name method onto the route definition:
Route::get('user/profile', function () {
//
})->name('profile');
You may also specify route names for controller actions:
Route::get('user/profile', [UserProfileController::class, 'show'])->name('profile');
{note} Route names should always be unique.
Once you have assigned a name to a given route, you may use the route's name when generating URLs or redirects via the global route function:
// Generating URLs...
$url = route('profile');
// Generating Redirects...
return redirect()->route('profile');
If the named route defines parameters, you may pass the parameters as the second argument to the route function. The given parameters will automatically be inserted into the URL in their correct positions:
Route::get('user/{id}/profile', function ($id) {
//
})->name('profile');
$url = route('profile', ['id' => 1]);
If you pass additional parameters in the array, those key / value pairs will automatically be added to the generated URL's query string:
Route::get('user/{id}/profile', function ($id) {
//
})->name('profile');
$url = route('profile', ['id' => 1, 'photos' => 'yes']);
// /user/1/profile?photos=yes
{tip} Sometimes, you may wish to specify request-wide default values for URL parameters, such as the current locale. To accomplish this, you may use the
URL::defaultsmethod.
If you would like to determine if the current request was routed to a given named route, you may use the named method on a Route instance. For example, you may check the current route name from a route middleware:
/**
* Handle an incoming request.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
* @param \Closure $next
* @return mixed
*/
public function handle($request, Closure $next)
{
if ($request->route()->named('profile')) {
//
}
return $next($request);
}
Route groups allow you to share route attributes, such as middleware, across a large number of routes without needing to define those attributes on each individual route. Shared attributes are specified in an array format as the first parameter to the Route::group method.
Nested groups attempt to intelligently "merge" attributes with their parent group. Middleware and where conditions are merged while names and prefixes are appended. Namespace delimiters and slashes in URI prefixes are automatically added where appropriate.
To assign middleware to all routes within a group, you may use the middleware method before defining the group. Middleware are executed in the order they are listed in the array:
Route::middleware(['first', 'second'])->group(function () {
Route::get('/', function () {
// Uses first & second middleware...
});
Route::get('user/profile', function () {
// Uses first & second middleware...
});
});
Route groups may also be used to handle subdomain routing. Subdomains may be assigned route parameters just like route URIs, allowing you to capture a portion of the subdomain for usage in your route or controller. The subdomain may be specified by calling the domain method before defining the group:
Route::domain('{account}.myapp.com')->group(function () {
Route::get('user/{id}', function ($account, $id) {
//
});
});
{note} In order to ensure your subdomain routes are reachable, you should register subdomain routes before registering root domain routes. This will prevent root domain routes from overwriting subdomain routes which have the same URI path.
The prefix method may be used to prefix each route in the group with a given URI. For example, you may want to prefix all route URIs within the group with admin:
Route::prefix('admin')->group(function () {
Route::get('users', function () {
// Matches The "/admin/users" URL
});
});
The name method may be used to prefix each route name in the group with a given string. For example, you may want to prefix all of the grouped route's names with admin. The given string is prefixed to the route name exactly as it is specified, so we will be sure to provide the trailing . character in the prefix:
Route::name('admin.')->group(function () {
Route::get('users', function () {
// Route assigned name "admin.users"...
})->name('users');
});
When injecting a model ID to a route or controller action, you will often query to retrieve the model that corresponds to that ID. Laravel route model binding provides a convenient way to automatically inject the model instances directly into your routes. For example, instead of injecting a user's ID, you can inject the entire User model instance that matches the given ID.
Laravel automatically resolves Eloquent models defined in routes or controller actions whose type-hinted variable names match a route segment name. For example:
Route::get('api/users/{user}', function (App\Models\User $user) {
return $user->email;
});
Since the $user variable is type-hinted as the App\Models\User Eloquent model and the variable name matches the {user} URI segment, Laravel will automatically inject the model instance that has an ID matching the corresponding value from the request URI. If a matching model instance is not found in the database, a 404 HTTP response will automatically be generated.
Of course, implicit binding is also possible when using controller methods. Again, note the {user} URI segment matches the $user variable in the controller which contains an App\Models\User type-hint:
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;
use App\Models\User;
Route::get('users/{user}', [UserController::class, 'show']);
public function show(User $user)
{
return view('user.profile', ['user' => $user]);
}
Sometimes you may wish to resolve Eloquent models using a column other than id. To do so, you may specify the column in the route parameter definition:
Route::get('api/posts/{post:slug}', function (App\Models\Post $post) {
return $post;
});
Sometimes, when implicitly binding multiple Eloquent models in a single route definition, you may wish to scope the second Eloquent model such that it must be a child of the first Eloquent model. For example, consider this situation that retrieves a blog post by slug for a specific user:
use App\Models\Post;
use App\Models\User;
Route::get('api/users/{user}/posts/{post:slug}', function (User $user, Post $post) {
return $post;
});
When using a custom keyed implicit binding as a nested route parameter, Laravel will automatically scope the query to retrieve the nested model by its parent using conventions to guess the relationship name on the parent. In this case, it will be assumed that the User model has a relationship named posts (the plural of the route parameter name) which can be used to retrieve the Post model.
If you would like model binding to use a default database column other than id when retrieving a given model class, you may override the getRouteKeyName method on the Eloquent model:
/**
* Get the route key for the model.
*
* @return string
*/
public function getRouteKeyName()
{
return 'slug';
}
To register an explicit binding, use the router's model method to specify the class for a given parameter. You should define your explicit model bindings at the beginning of the boot method of your RouteServiceProvider class:
/**
* Define your route model bindings, pattern filters, etc.
*
* @return void
*/
public function boot()
{
Route::model('user', App\Models\User::class);
// ...
}
Next, define a route that contains a {user} parameter:
Route::get('profile/{user}', function (App\Models\User $user) {
//
});
Since we have bound all {user} parameters to the App\Models\User model, a User instance will be injected into the route. So, for example, a request to profile/1 will inject the User instance from the database which has an ID of 1.
If a matching model instance is not found in the database, a 404 HTTP response will be automatically generated.
If you wish to use your own resolution logic, you may use the Route::bind method. The Closure you pass to the bind method will receive the value of the URI segment and should return the instance of the class that should be injected into the route:
/**
* Define your route model bindings, pattern filters, etc.
*
* @return void
*/
public function boot()
{
Route::bind('user', function ($value) {
return App\Models\User::where('name', $value)->firstOrFail();
});
// ...
}
Alternatively, you may override the resolveRouteBinding method on your Eloquent model. This method will receive the value of the URI segment and should return the instance of the class that should be injected into the route:
/**
* Retrieve the model for a bound value.
*
* @param mixed $value
* @param string|null $field
* @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model|null
*/
public function resolveRouteBinding($value, $field = null)
{
return $this->where('name', $value)->firstOrFail();
}
If a route is utilizing implicit binding scoping, the resolveChildRouteBinding method will be used to resolve the child binding of the parent model:
/**
* Retrieve the child model for a bound value.
*
* @param string $childType
* @param mixed $value
* @param string|null $field
* @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model|null
*/
public function resolveChildRouteBinding($childType, $value, $field)
{
return parent::resolveChildRouteBinding($childType, $value, $field);
}
Using the Route::fallback method, you may define a route that will be executed when no other route matches the incoming request. Typically, unhandled requests will automatically render a "404" page via your application's exception handler. However, since you may define the fallback route within your routes/web.php file, all middleware in the web middleware group will apply to the route. You are free to add additional middleware to this route as needed:
Route::fallback(function () {
//
});
{note} The fallback route should always be the last route registered by your application.
Laravel includes powerful and customizable rate limiting services that you may utilize to restrict the amount of traffic for a given route or group of routes. To get started, you should define rate limiter configurations that meet your application's needs. Typically, this may be done in your application's RouteServiceProvider.
Rate limiters are defined using the RateLimiter facade's for method. The for method accepts a rate limiter name and a Closure that returns the limit configuration that should apply to routes that are assigned this rate limiter:
use Illuminate\Cache\RateLimiting\Limit;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\RateLimiter;
RateLimiter::for('global', function (Request $request) {
return Limit::perMinute(1000);
});
If the incoming request exceeds the specified rate limit, a response with a 429 HTTP status code will be automatically returned by Laravel. If you would like to define your own response that should be returned by a rate limit, you may use the response method:
RateLimiter::for('global', function (Request $request) {
return Limit::perMinute(1000)->response(function () {
return response('Custom response...', 429);
});
});
Since rate limiter callbacks receive the incoming HTTP request instance, you may build the appropriate rate limit dynamically based on the incoming request or authenticated user:
RateLimiter::for('uploads', function (Request $request) {
return $request->user()->vipCustomer()
? Limit::none()
: Limit::perMinute(100);
});
Sometimes you may wish to segment rate limits by some arbitrary value. For example, you may wish to allow users to access a given route 100 times per minute per IP address. To accomplish this, you may use the by method when building your rate limit:
RateLimiter::for('uploads', function (Request $request) {
return $request->user()->vipCustomer()
? Limit::none()
: Limit::perMinute(100)->by($request->ip());
});
If needed, you may return an array of rate limits for a given rate limiter configuration. Each rate limit will be evaluated for the route based on the order they are placed within the array:
RateLimiter::for('login', function (Request $request) {
return [
Limit::perMinute(500),
Limit::perMinute(3)->by($request->input('email')),
];
});
Rate limiters may be attached to routes or route groups using the throttle middleware. The throttle middleware accepts the name of the rate limiter you wish to assign to the route:
Route::middleware(['throttle:uploads'])->group(function () {
Route::post('/audio', function () {
//
});
Route::post('/video', function () {
//
});
});
Typically, the throttle middleware is mapped to the Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\ThrottleRequests class. This mapping is defined in your application's HTTP kernel. However, if you are using Redis as your application's cache driver, you may wish to change this mapping to use the Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\ThrottleRequestsWithRedis class. This class is more efficient at managing rate limiting using Redis:
'throttle' => \Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\ThrottleRequestsWithRedis::class,
HTML forms do not support PUT, PATCH or DELETE actions. So, when defining PUT, PATCH or DELETE routes that are called from an HTML form, you will need to add a hidden _method field to the form. The value sent with the _method field will be used as the HTTP request method:
<form action="/foo/bar" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="_method" value="PUT">
<input type="hidden" name="_token" value="{{ csrf_token() }}">
</form>
You may use the @method Blade directive to generate the _method input:
<form action="/foo/bar" method="POST">
@method('PUT')
@csrf
</form>
You may use the current, currentRouteName, and currentRouteAction methods on the Route facade to access information about the route handling the incoming request:
$route = Route::current();
$name = Route::currentRouteName();
$action = Route::currentRouteAction();
Refer to the API documentation for both the underlying class of the Route facade and Route instance to review all accessible methods.
Laravel can automatically respond to CORS OPTIONS requests with values that you configure. All CORS settings may be configured in your cors configuration file and OPTIONS requests will automatically be handled by the HandleCors middleware that is included by default in your global middleware stack.
{tip} For more information on CORS and CORS headers, please consult the MDN web documentation on CORS.