Defining Basic Routes in Laravel

What Are Routes in Laravel?

Routes are the entry points that tell Laravel what to do when a URL is visited.

For example:

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

When someone visits http://your-app.test/hello, Laravel will return "Hello, World!".

Laravel Route File Location

All web routes are typically defined in:

routes/web.php

This is where you handle browser-based routes (frontend). For APIs, you use routes/api.php.

Basic Route Types

1. GET Route

Used when retrieving data or showing a page.

Route::get('/about', function () {
    return 'This is the About page.';
});

2. POST Route

Used to submit form data (like uploading a file or submitting a login form):

Route::post('/submit', function () {
    return 'Form submitted!';
});

3. PUT / PATCH Route

Used to update data.

Route::put('/user/update', function () {
    return 'User updated!';
});

4. DELETE Route

Used to delete something.

Route::delete('/post/delete', function () {
    return 'Post deleted!';
});

Route with Controller

Instead of putting logic directly inside the route, Laravel allows mapping routes to a controller method.

use App\Http\Controllers\PageController;

Route::get('/contact', [PageController::class, 'contact']);

In PageController.php:

public function contact()
{
    return view('contact');
}

Naming Routes

You can name a route using ->name() so that you can reference it elsewhere (like in a form).

Route::post('/form/save', [FormController::class, 'saveRecord'])->name('form/save');

Usage in Blade:

<form action="{{ route('form/save') }}" method="POST">

Route Parameters

1. Required Parameter:

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

Visiting /user/10 returns User ID is: 10.

2. Optional Parameter:

Route::get('/post/{slug?}', function ($slug = null) {
    return $slug ? "Post: $slug" : "No post selected.";
});

Route List

You can see all registered routes using:

php artisan route:list

It will show you:

Method (GET, POST, etc.)
URI
Controller
Name
Middleware

Example: Simple Laravel Form Routes Setup

// routes/web.php

use App\Http\Controllers\FormController;

Route::get('/', function () {
    return redirect('form/new');
});

Route::get('form/new', [FormController::class, 'index'])->name('form/new');
Route::post('form/save', [FormController::class, 'saveRecord'])->name('form/save');

Summary Table

Method	Usage	Example
GET	Read data / show page	`Route::get('/home', ...)`
POST	Submit data	`Route::post('/form', ...)`
PUT	Update data	`Route::put('/profile', ...)`
DELETE	Delete data	`Route::delete('/post', ...)`
ANY	Accept any method	`Route::any('/anything', ...)`
MATCH	Accept specific methods	`Route::match(['get', 'post'], ...)`

Want to explore route groups, middleware, or resource routes next?

Souy Soeng