HTTP Routing

• Basic Routing
• CSRF Protection
• Method Spoofing
• Route Parameters
• Named Routes
• Route Groups
• Route Model Binding
• Throwing 404 Errors

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::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.

X-CSRF-TOKEN

In addition to looking for the CSRF token as a "POST" parameter, the middleware will also check for the X-CSRF-TOKEN request header. You could, for example, store the token in a "meta" tag and instruct jQuery to add it to all request headers:

<meta name="csrf-token" content="{{ csrf_token() }}" />
 
$.ajaxSetup({
        headers: {
            'X-CSRF-TOKEN': $('meta[name="csrf-token"]').attr('content')
        }
    });

Now all AJAX requests will automatically include the CSRF token:

$.ajax({
   url: "/foo/bar",
})

X-XSRF-TOKEN

Laravel also stores the CSRF token in a XSRF-TOKEN cookie. You can use the cookie value to set the X-XSRF-TOKEN request header. Some JavaScript frameworks, like Angular, do this automatically for you.

Note: The difference between the X-CSRF-TOKEN and X-XSRF-TOKEN is that the first uses a plain text value and the latter uses an encrypted value, because cookies in Laravel are always encrypted. If you use the csrf_token() function to supply the token value, you probably want to use the X-CSRF-TOKEN header.

Method Spoofing

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. 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 boot 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 many of your routes will share common requirements such as URL segments, middleware, namespaces, etc. Instead of specifying each of these options on every route individually, you may use a route group to apply attributes to many routes.

Shared attributes are specified in an array format as the first parameter to the Route::group method.

Middleware

Middleware are applied to all routes within the group by defining the list of middleware with the middleware parameter on the group attribute array. Middleware will be executed in the order you define this array:

Route::group(['middleware' => ['foo', 'bar']], function()
{
    Route::get('/', function()
    {
        // Has Foo And Bar Middleware
    });
 
    Route::get('user/profile', function()
    {
        // Has Foo And Bar Middleware
    });
 
});

Namespaces

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

Route::group(['namespace' => 'Admin'], function()
{
    // Controllers Within The "App\Http\Controllers\Admin" Namespace
 
    Route::group(['namespace' => 'User'], function()
    {
        // Controllers Within The "App\Http\Controllers\Admin\User" 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('users', function()
    {
        // Matches The "/admin/users" URL
    });
});

You can also utilize the prefix parameter to pass common parameters to your routes:

Registering a URL parameter in a route prefix

Route::group(['prefix' => 'accounts/{account_id}'], function()
{
    Route::get('detail', function($account_id)
    {
        //
    });
});

You can even define parameter constraints for the named parameters in your prefix:

Route::group([
    'prefix' => 'accounts/{account_id}',
    'where' => ['account_id' => '[0-9]+'],
], function() {
 
    // Define Routes Here
});

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.

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 Route::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\HttpKernel\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.