Laravel: Up and Running

Chapter 3. Routing and Controllers

The essential function of any web application framework is to take requests from a user and deliver responses, usually via HTTP(S). This means defining an application’s routes is the first and most important project to tackle when learning a web framework; without routes, you have no ability to interact with the end user.

In this chapter we will examine routes in Laravel and show how to define them, how to point them to the code they should execute, and how to use Laravel’s routing tools to handle a diverse array of routing needs.

Route Definitions

In a Laravel application, you will define your “web” routes in routes/web.php and your “API” routes in routes/api.php. Web routes are those that will be visited by your end users; API routes are those for your API, if you have one. For now, we’ll primarily focus on the routes in routes/web.php.

Note

In projects running versions of Laravel prior to 5.3, there will be only one routes file, located at app/Http/routes.php.

The simplest way to define a route is to match a path (e.g., /) with a closure, as seen in Example 3-1.

Example 3-1. Basic route definition

// routes/web.php
Route::get('/', function () {
    return 'Hello, World!';
});

What’s a Closure?

Closures are PHP’s version of anonymous functions. A closure is a function that you can pass around as an object, assign to a variable, pass as a parameter to other functions and methods, or even serialize.

You’ve now defined that, if anyone visits ...