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Laravel’s routing system provides a clean and expressive way to define application endpoints. Routes are defined in the routes/ directory and support various HTTP methods, parameters, and middleware.

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Basic Routing

Routes are typically defined in routes/web.php for web requests.

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Simple Route

The most basic route accepts a URI and a closure:
routes/web.php
Route::get('/', function () {
    return view('welcome');
});
This route returns the welcome view when users visit the root URL of your application.

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Available Router Methods

Laravel’s router allows you to register routes that respond to any HTTP verb: 
Route::get('/users', function () {
    return 'List of users';
});

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Route Parameters

You can capture segments of the URI using route parameters:

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Required Parameters

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

Route::get('/posts/{post}/comments/{comment}', function ($postId, $commentId) {
    return 'Post: ' . $postId . ', Comment: ' . $commentId;
});

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Optional Parameters

Route::get('/users/{name?}', function ($name = null) {
    return $name ? 'User: ' . $name : 'All users';
});

Route::get('/posts/{id?}', function ($id = 'default') {
    return 'Post ID: ' . $id;
});

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Named Routes

Named routes allow you to conveniently generate URLs or redirects: 
Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
    return view('dashboard');
})->name('dashboard');

Route::get('/profile', function () {
    return view('profile');
})->name('profile.view');
Generate URLs to named routes: 
// Generate URL
$url = route('dashboard');

// Generate URL with parameters
$url = route('profile.view', ['id' => 1]);

// Redirect to named route
return redirect()->route('dashboard');

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Route Groups

Route groups allow you to share attributes across multiple routes:

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Middleware Groups

Route::middleware(['auth'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
        return view('dashboard');
    });
    
    Route::get('/profile', function () {
        return view('profile');
    });
});

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Prefix Groups

Route::prefix('admin')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/users', function () {
        // Matches /admin/users
    });
    
    Route::get('/posts', function () {
        // Matches /admin/posts
    });
});

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Name Prefix Groups

Route::name('admin.')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/users', function () {
        // Route named "admin.users"
    })->name('users');
});

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Controller Routes

For better organization, routes often point to controller methods: 
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);
Route::get('/users/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show']);
Route::post('/users', [UserController::class, 'store']);
Route::put('/users/{id}', [UserController::class, 'update']);
Route::delete('/users/{id}', [UserController::class, 'destroy']);

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Resource Controllers

Laravel provides resource routing for CRUD operations: 
Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);
This single line creates multiple routes:
MethodURIActionRoute Name
GET/postsindexposts.index
GET/posts/createcreateposts.create
POST/postsstoreposts.store
GET/posts/showposts.show
GET/posts//editeditposts.edit
PUT/PATCH/posts/updateposts.update
DELETE/posts/destroyposts.destroy

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Console Routes

Define Artisan commands in routes/console.php:
routes/console.php
use Illuminate\Foundation\Inspiring;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Artisan;

Artisan::command('inspire', function () {
    $this->comment(Inspiring::quote());
})->purpose('Display an inspiring quote');
Run the command with php artisan inspire to see an inspiring quote in your console.

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Route Configuration

Routing is configured in bootstrap/app.php:
bootstrap/app.php
return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__.'/../routes/web.php',
        commands: __DIR__.'/../routes/console.php',
        health: '/up',
    )
    // ...
The health parameter automatically creates a health check endpoint at /up for monitoring application status.

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Route Model Binding

Automatically inject model instances into your routes:

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Implicit Binding

use App\Models\User;

Route::get('/users/{user}', function (User $user) {
    return $user->email;
});

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Explicit Binding

use App\Models\User;

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

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Route Caching

For production environments, cache your routes for faster registration: 
# Cache routes
php artisan route:cache

# Clear route cache
php artisan route:clear
Route caching doesn’t work with closure-based routes. Always use controller methods in production applications.

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Viewing Routes

List all registered routes: 
php artisan route:list
Filter routes by name or URI: 
php artisan route:list --name=user
php artisan route:list --path=api

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