Laravel 5.dev HTTP Routing

Basic Routing

You will define most of the routes for your application in the app/Http/routes.php file, which is loaded by the App\Providers\RouteServiceProvider class. The most basic Laravel routes simply accept a URI and a Closure:

Basic GET Route

Route::get('/', function()
{
	return 'Hello World';
});

Other Basic Routes Route

Route::post('foo/bar', function()
{
	return 'Hello World';
});

Route::put('foo/bar', function()
{
	//
});

Route::delete('foo/bar', function()
{
	//
});

Registering A Route For Multiple Verbs

Route::match(['get', 'post'], '/', function()
{
	return 'Hello World';
});

Registering A Route That Responds To Any HTTP Verb

Route::any('foo', function()
{
	return 'Hello World';
});

Often, you will need to generate URLs to your routes, you may do so using the url helper:

$url = url('foo');

CSRF Protection

Laravel makes it easy to protect your application from cross-site request forgeries. Cross-site request forgeries are a type of malicious exploit whereby unauthorized commands are performed on behalf of the authenticated user.

Laravel automatically generates a CSRF "token" for each active user session managed by the application. This token is used to verify that the authenticated user is the one actually making the requests to the application.

Insert The CSRF Token Into A Form

<input type="hidden" name="_token" value="<?php echo csrf_token(); ?>">

Of course, using the Blade templating engine:

<input type="hidden" name="_token" value="{{ csrf_token() }}">

You do not need to manually verify the CSRF token on POST, PUT, or DELETE requests. The VerifyCsrfToken HTTP middleware will verify token in the request input matches the token stored in the session.

In addition to looking for the CSRF token as a "POST" parameter, the middleware will also check for the X-XSRF-TOKEN request header, which is commonly used by JavaScript frameworks.

Method Spoofing

HTML forms do not support PUT or DELETE actions. So, when defining PUT 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. For example:

<form action="/foo/bar" method="POST">
	<input type="hidden" name="_method" value="PUT">
	<input type="hidden" name="_token" value="<?php echo csrf_token(); ?>">
</form>

Route Parameters

Of course, you can capture segments of the request URI within your route:

Basic Route Parameter

Route::get('user/{id}', function($id)
{
	return 'User '.$id;
});

Optional Route Parameters

Route::get('user/{name?}', function($name = null)
{
	return $name;
});

Optional Route Parameters With Default Value

Route::get('user/{name?}', function($name = 'John')
{
	return $name;
});

Regular Expression Parameter Constraints

Route::get('user/{name}', function($name)
{
	//
})
->where('name', '[A-Za-z]+');

Route::get('user/{id}', function($id)
{
	//
})
->where('id', '[0-9]+');

Passing An Array Of Constraints

Route::get('user/{id}/{name}', function($id, $name)
{
	//
})
->where(['id' => '[0-9]+', 'name' => '[a-z]+'])

Defining Global Patterns

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 before method of your RouteServiceProvider:

$router->pattern('id', '[0-9]+');

Once the pattern has been defined, it is applied to all routes using that parameter:

Route::get('user/{id}', function($id)
{
	// Only called if {id} is numeric.
});

Accessing A Route Parameter Value

If you need to access a route parameter value outside of a route, use the input method:

if ($route->input('id') == 1)
{
	//
}

You may also access the current route parameters via the Illuminate\Http\Request instance. The request instance for the current request may be accessed via the Request facade, or by type-hinting the Illuminate\Http\Request where dependencies are injected:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::get('user/{id}', function(Request $request, $id)
{
	if ($request->route('id'))
	{
		//
	}
});

Named Routes

Named routes allow you to conveniently generate URLs or redirects for a specific route. You may specify a name for a route with the as array key:

Route::get('user/profile', ['as' => 'profile', function()
{
	//
}]);

You may also specify route names for controller actions:

Route::get('user/profile', [
    'as' => 'profile', 'uses' => 'UserController@showProfile'
]);

Now, you may use the route's name when generating URLs or redirects:

$url = route('profile');

$redirect = redirect()->route('profile');

The currentRouteName method returns the name of the route handling the current request:

$name = Route::currentRouteName();

Route Groups

Sometimes you may need to apply filters to a group of routes. Instead of specifying the filter on each route, you may use a route group:

Route::group(['before' => 'auth'], function()
{
	Route::get('/', function()
	{
		// Has Auth Filter
	});

	Route::get('user/profile', function()
	{
		// Has Auth Filter
	});
});

You may use the namespace parameter within your group array to specify the namespace for all controllers within the group:

Route::group(['namespace' => 'Admin'], function()
{
	//
});

Note: By default, the RouteServiceProvider includes your routes.php file within a namespace group, allowing you to register controller routes without specifying the full namespace.

Sub-Domain Routing

Laravel routes also handle wildcard sub-domains, and will pass your wildcard parameters from the domain:

Registering Sub-Domain Routes

Route::group(['domain' => '{account}.myapp.com'], function()
{

	Route::get('user/{id}', function($account, $id)
	{
		//
	});

});

Route Prefixing

A group of routes may be prefixed by using the prefix option in the attributes array of a group:

Route::group(['prefix' => 'admin'], function()
{

	Route::get('user', function()
	{
		//
	});

});

Route Model Binding

Laravel model binding provides a convenient way to inject class instances into your routes. For example, instead of injecting a user's ID, you can inject the entire User class instance that matches the given ID.

First, use the router's model method to specify the class for a given parameter. You should define your model bindings in the RouteServiceProvider::boot method:

Binding A Parameter To A Model

public function boot(Router $router)
{
	parent::boot($router);

	$router->model('user', 'App\User');
}

Next, define a route that contains a {user} parameter:

Route::get('profile/{user}', function(App\User $user)
{
	//
});

Since we have bound the {user} parameter to the App\User model, a User instance will be injected into the route. So, for example, a request to profile/1 will inject the User instance which has an ID of 1.

Note: If a matching model instance is not found in the database, a 404 error will be thrown.

If you wish to specify your own "not found" behavior, pass a Closure as the third argument to the model method:

Route::model('user', 'User', function()
{
	throw new NotFoundHttpException;
});

If you wish to use your own resolution logic, you should use the Router::bind method. The Closure you pass to the bind method will receive the value of the URI segment, and should return an instance of the class you want to be injected into the route:

Route::bind('user', function($value)
{
	return User::where('name', $value)->first();
});

Throwing 404 Errors

There are two ways to manually trigger a 404 error from a route. First, you may use the abort helper:

abort(404);

The abort helper simply throws a Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Exception\HttpException with the specified status code.

Secondly, you may manually throw an instance of Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\NotFoundHttpException.

More information on handling 404 exceptions and using custom responses for these errors may be found in the errors section of the documentation.