routing.md

Routing

• Basic Routing
• Route Parameters
• Route Filters
• Named Routes
• Route Groups
• Sub-Domain Routing
• Throwing 404 Errors
• Resource Controllers

Basic Routing

Most of the routes for your application will be defined in the app/routes.php file. The simplest Laravel routes consist of a URI and a Closure callback.

Basic GET Route

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

Basic POST Route

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

Registering A Route Responding To Any HTTP Verb

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

Forcing A Route To Be Served Over HTTPS

Route::get('foo', array('https', function()
{
	return 'Must be over HTTPS';
}));

Route Parameters

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

Optional Route Parameters

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

Optional Route Parameters With Defaults

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

Regular Expression Route Constraints

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

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

Route Filters

Route filters provide a convenient way of limiting access to a given route, which is useful for creating areas of your site which require authentication. There are several filters included in the Laravel framework, including an auth filter, a guest filter, and a csrffilter. These are located in the app/filters.php file.

Defining A Route Filter

Route::filter('old', function()
{
	if (Input::get('age') < 200)
	{
		return Redirect::to('home');
	}
});

If a response is returned from a filter, that response will be considered the response to the request and the route will not be executed.

Attaching A Filter To A Route

Route::get('user', array('before' => 'old', function()
{
	return 'You are over 200 years old!';
}));

Attaching Multiple Filters To A Route

Route::get('user', array('before' => 'auth|old', function()
{
	return 'You are authenticated and over 200 years old!';
}));

Specifying Filter Parameters

Route::filter('age', function($value)
{
	//
});

Route::get('user', array('before' => 'age:200', function()
{
	return 'Hello World';
}));

Pattern Based Filters

You may also specify that a filter applies to an entire set of routes based on their URI.

Route::filter('admin', function()
{
	//
});

Route::when('admin/*', 'admin');

In the example above, the admin filter would be applied to all routes beginning with admin/. The asterisk is used as a wildcard, and will match any combination of characters.

Filter Classes

For advanced filtering, you may wish to use a class instead of a Closure. Since filter classes are resolved out of the application IoC container, you will be able to utilize dependency injection in these filters for greater testability.

Defining A Filter Class

class FooFilter {

	public function filter()
	{
		// Filter logic...
	}

}

Registering A Class Based Filter

Route::filter('foo', 'FooFilter');

Named Routes

Named routes make referring to routes when generating redirects or URLs more convenient. You may specify a name for a route like so:

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

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

$url = URL::route('profile');

$redirect = Redirect::route('profile');

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

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

Sub-Domain Routing

Laravel routes are also able to handle wildcard sub-domains, and pass you wildcard parameters from the domain:

Registering Sub-Domain Routes

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

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

});

Throwing 404 Errors

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

App::abort(404);

Second, you may 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.

Resource Controllers

Resource controllers make it easier to build RESTful controllers around resources.

See Controllers documentation for more information.