Laravel how to connect to a database

Learn how to connect to a database with Laravel, complete with an example to get you started.

Connecting to a Database with Laravel

Database connectivity is an important part of any web application, and Laravel makes this process easy with its built-in tools. This tutorial will walk you through how to connect to a database with Laravel.

The first step is to create a new Laravel project. To do this, open a terminal window and type the following command:

$ laravel new my-project

This will create a new Laravel project called "my-project" in the current directory. Next, you will need to configure your database connection.

The database configuration is stored in the "config/database.php" file. In this file, you will need to set the "default" connection to the type of database you are using (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.). You will also need to set the "host", "database", "username", and "password" values for your database connection.

'default' => env('DB_CONNECTION', 'mysql'),

'connections' => [
    'mysql' => [
        'driver' => 'mysql',
        'host' => env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
        'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'),
        'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'forge'),
        'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'forge'),
        'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', ''),
        'unix_socket' => env('DB_SOCKET', ''),
        'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
        'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
        'prefix' => '',
        'strict' => true,
        'engine' => null,
    ],
],

Once you have configured the database connection, you can use the "migrate" command to create the database tables:

$ php artisan migrate

This will create the database tables for your application. Once the tables have been created, you can use the "artisan" command line tool to interact with your database.

For example, to create a new record in the "users" table, you can use the "create" command:

$ php artisan create:user

This will prompt you to enter the user's information, and it will create the record in the database. You can also use the "artisan" command line tool to update, delete, and query your database.

Using Laravel makes connecting to a database easy and efficient, allowing you to quickly build powerful web applications. With a few simple commands, you can be up and running with a database in no time.