How to Upload a File in Laravel 7

File uploading is the most used functionality in web applications.

Lots of application allows the users to manipulate files to the server like – profile image, upload documents, import data, etc.

In this tutorial, I show how you can validate and upload a file in Laravel 7.

How to Upload a File in Laravel 7

Controller
Route
View
Output
Conclusion

1. Controller

Create a new PagesController controller.

php artisan make:controller PagesController

Here, create two methods –

index – Load index view.
uploadFile – This method calls on <form> submit.

Define validation. I set the max upload file to 2 MB (2048 Kb). You can modify the file extensions and max upload size.

Read the submitted file with $request->file('file') and assign to $file.

Syntax –

$request->file([ file-element-name ]);

Assigned upload location "files" to $location variable.

Execute $file->move($location,$filename); to store the file.

The files folder is created inside the public/ folder at the root from where you can access the uploaded files.

NOTE – Folder automatically created if it does not exist.

Completed Code

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Session;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class PagesController extends Controller{

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

    public function uploadFile(Request $request){

         // Validation
         $request->validate([
              'file' => 'required|mimes:png,jpg,jpeg,csv,txt,pdf|max:2048'
         ]); 

         if($request->file('file')) {
              $file = $request->file('file');
              $filename = time().'_'.$file->getClientOriginalName();

              // File upload location
              $location = 'files';

              // Upload file
              $file->move($location,$filename);

              Session::flash('message','Upload Successfully.');
              Session::flash('alert-class', 'alert-success');
         }else{
              Session::flash('message','File not uploaded.');
              Session::flash('alert-class', 'alert-danger');
         }

         return redirect('/');
    }
}

2. Route

Open routes/web.php file.

Here, define two routes –

/
uploadFile – Post type route which calls on <form> submit.

Completed Code

<?php

Route::get('/', 'PagesController@index'); 
Route::post('/uploadFile', 'PagesController@uploadFile');

3. View

Create a new index.blade.php file in resources/views/ directory.

Display SESSION message variable value in <div> if it is set.

Create a file element and a submit button in <form >. Also, add {{ csrf_field() }} inside <form>.

Set <form > action='/uploadFile' and enctype='multipart/form-data'.

Display error message in <span > if the file is not validated.

Completed Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>How to upload a file in Laravel 7</title>

    <!-- Meta -->
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
    <meta charset="utf-8">

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/css/bootstrap.min.css">

</head>
<body>

    <div class="container">

        <div class="row">

             <div class="col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12">

                  <!-- Alert message (start) -->
                  @if(Session::has('message'))
                  <div class="alert {{ Session::get('alert-class') }}">
                       {{ Session::get('message') }}
                  </div>
                  @endif 
                  <!-- Alert message (end) -->

                  <form action="{{route('uploadFile')}}" enctype='multipart/form-data' method="post" >
                       {{csrf_field()}}

                       <div class="form-group">
                            <label class="control-label col-md-3 col-sm-3 col-xs-12" for="name">File <span class="required">*</span></label>
                            <div class="col-md-6 col-sm-6 col-xs-12">

                                 <input type='file' name='file' class="form-control">

                                 @if ($errors->has('file'))
                                      <span class="errormsg text-danger">{{ $errors->first('file') }}</span>
                                 @endif
                            </div>
                       </div>

                       <div class="form-group">
                            <div class="col-md-6">
                                 <input type="submit" name="submit" value='Submit' class='btn btn-success'>
                            </div>
                       </div>

                  </form>

             </div>
        </div>
    </div>

</body>
</html>

4. Output

View Output

5. Conclusion

In the example, I only used SESSION for displaying messages in the view file.

Modify the validation according to your requirement and you can find your files storage directory in public folder.

You can view this tutorial to know file upload in Laravel 8.

If you found this tutorial helpful then don't forget to share.

Contents

1. Controller

2. Route

3. View

4. Output

5. Conclusion