This article summarizes how to pass data to views in Laravel.

Introduction

The content in this article remains relevant as of Laravel 11.

For versions prior to Laravel 7, the way of writing routes (web.php) differs from this article.

However, the main content regarding controller code is still applicable.

How to Pass Data to Views

Controller Code Example

    public function index()
    {
        $users = User::all();
        return view('welcome', ['users' => $users]);
    }

By writing this code, you can use the variable $users in resources/views/welcome.blade.php.

The view('welcome') method specifies the relative path from resources/views/, which is the base directory.

The ['users' => $users] part indicates that users is the variable name available in welcome.blade.php, accessible as $users.

If you use ['a' => $users], you would access it as $a.

This covers the main point, but below I will explain the steps to create a page using this method.

Steps to Use Data in a View

1. Write the Route

routes/web.php

use App\Http\Controllers\HomeController;
Route::get('/', [HomeController::class, 'index']);

For those unfamiliar with routing, refer to → Basic Routing in Laravel 8.

For Laravel 7 and earlier, see → Basic Routing for Laravel 6 and 7: A Starter Guide.

2. Create the Controller

Command:

php artisan make:controller HomeController

This will create app/Http/Controllers/HomeController.

3. Add Code to the Controller

Here, I’ll use an example of retrieving users data.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;

class HomeController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $users = User::all(); // Retrieve data
        // Specify resources/views/welcome.blade.php
        return view('welcome', ['users' => $users]);
    }
}

4. Write the View

resources/views/welcome.blade.php

$users is a type called a collection, which can be used similarly to an array.

When handling this data, you need to iterate over it using foreach, for example.

<div>
  @foreach($users as $user)
  <div>{{ $user->name }}</div>
  @endforeach
</div>

→ How to Display Lists with Foreach in Laravel

Alternative Syntax

The line return view('welcome', ['users' => $users]); can be implemented in other ways as well.

Using compact() (Recommended)

return view('welcome', compact('users'));

I find this method to be the best.

For passing multiple variables:

return view('welcome', compact('users', 'posts'));

Using with

return view('welcome')->with('users', $users);

This method has been necessary for me in some cases involving email functionality.

Conclusion

That's all.

I hope this article is helpful to someone.