What are routes in Laravel, and how are they defined?
Jun 12, 2025 pm 08:21 PMIn Laravel, routing is the entry point of the application that defines the response logic when a client requests a specific URI. The route maps the URL to the corresponding processing code, which usually contains HTTP methods, URIs, and actions (closures or controller methods). 1. Basic structure of route definition: bind requests using Route::verb('/uri', action); 2. Supports multiple HTTP verbs such as GET, POST, PUT, etc.; 3. Dynamic parameters can be defined through {param} and data can be passed; 4. The route can be named to generate URLs or redirects; 5. Use the grouping function to uniformly add prefixes, middleware and other sharing settings; 6. Routing files are divided into web.php, api.php, console.php and channels.php according to their purpose, corresponding to different scenarios.
In Laravel, routes are essentially the entry points to your application — they define how your app responds to a client request at a specific URI. Think of them as the mapping between URLs and the code that handles them.
Basic Concept: What Are Routes?
At their core, routes in Laravel determine what happens when someone visits a certain URL on your site. For example, if you have a blog, visiting /posts
might show a list of posts, while /posts/1
shows a specific one. Each of these URLs is tied to a route that tells Laravel where to go and what to do.
You define routes in files inside the routes
directory. The most common ones are:
-
web.php
– for regular HTML pages (with session state, CSRF protection, etc.) -
api.php
– for stateless APIs -
console.php
– for Artisan commands -
channels.php
– for broadcast channels
Each route typically includes an HTTP verb (like GET or POST), a URI, and an action (a controller method or closure).
Defining Simple Routes
The simplest way to define a route is using a closure directly in your route file. Here's an example from routes/web.php
:
Route::get('/hello', function () { return 'Hello, Laravel!'; });
This means when someone accesses /hello
via a GET request, Laravel will return "Hello, Laravel!".
You can also use controller methods instead of closings, which keeps your route files clean and separates concerns:
Route::get('/posts', [PostController::class, 'index']);
Here, accessing /posts
will call the index
method of PostController
.
Some other common HTTP verbs include:
-
Route::post()
– for form submissions -
Route::put()
– for updates -
Route::delete()
– for deletions -
Route::patch()
– partial updates
Route Parameters: Passing Data Through URLs
If you need to pass dynamic data through a URL (like a user ID or post slug), Laravel makes it easy with route parameters.
For example:
Route::get('/user/{id}', function ($id) { return 'User ID: ' . $id; });
Now, visiting /user/123
would display "User ID: 123".
You can have multiple parameters too:
Route::get('/post/{year}/{slug}', function ($year, $slug) { return "Post from $year: $slug"; });
These parameters can also be optional by giving them a default value:
Route::get('/page/{number?}', function ($number = 1) { return "Page number: $number"; });
Naming and Grouping Routes
As your app grows, naming routes become super useful — especially when generating URLs or redirects.
Route::get('/about', function () { return view('about'); })->name('about.page');
Then later, you can reference it like this:
route('about.page');
Grouping routes helps organize shared logic, such as middleware or prefixes:
Route::prefix('admin')->group(function () { Route::get('/dashboard', function () { return 'Admin Dashboard'; })->name('admin.dashboard'); Route::get('/users', function () { return 'Admin Users'; })->name('admin.users'); });
This way, all routes under the group have /admin
prepended automatically.
Middleware can also be applied to a group:
Route::middleware(['auth'])->group(function () { Route::get('/profile', function () { return 'Your Profile'; }); });
This ensures only authenticated users can access those routes.
That's the general idea of ??how routing works in Laravel. It gives you a lot of flexibility without being overly complex once you get the hang of it.
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