routing.md

Routing

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

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.