Write a PHP program to create a url shortener
laravel.
First, make sure you have Laravel installed on your system. If not, you can install it using Composer.
Create a new Laravel project using Composer:
composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel url-shortener
Navigate into your project directory:
cd url-shortener
Set up your database in the .env file:
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=your_database_name
DB_USERNAME=your_database_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password
Generate the URL Shortener controller:
php artisan make:controller UrlShortenerController
Define routes in routes/web.php:
use App\Http\Controllers\UrlShortenerController;
Route::get('/', [UrlShortenerController::class, 'index']);
Route::post('/shorten', [UrlShortenerController::class, 'shorten']);
Route::get('/{code}', [UrlShortenerController::class, 'redirect']);
Implement the controller methods in
app/Http/Controllers/UrlShortenerController.php:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Url;
class UrlShortenerController extends Controller
public function index()
return view('index');
public function shorten(Request $request)
$request->validate([
'url' => 'required|url'
]);
$inputUrl = $request->input('url');
$code = Url::generateUniqueShortCode();
Url::create([
'original_url' => $inputUrl,
'short_code' => $code
]);
return redirect('/')->with('shortened', url('/'.$code));
public function redirect($code)
{
$url = Url::where('short_code', $code)->firstOrFail();
return redirect($url->original_url);
Create the Url model:
php artisan make:model Url
Define the Url model in app/Models/Url.php:
<?php
namespace App\Models;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Support\Str;
class Url extends Model
use HasFactory;
protected $fillable = ['original_url', 'short_code'];
public static function generateUniqueShortCode()
$code = Str::random(6);
while (self::where('short_code', $code)->exists()) {
$code = Str::random(6);
}
return $code;
Create views in resources/views:
Create index.blade.php:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>URL Shortener</title>
</head>
<body>
@if (session('shortened'))
<p>Shortened URL: <a href="{{ session('shortened') }}">{{ session('shortened') }}</a></p>
@endif
<form method="post" action="/shorten">
@csrf
<input type="text" name="url" placeholder="Enter URL">
<button type="submit">Shorten</button>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Create a new PHP file with an appropriate name for your migration. For example,
you could name it something like 2024_02_21_123456_create_urls_table.php to
follow Laravel's migration naming convention.
<?php
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
class CreateUrlsTable extends Migration
{
/**
* Run the migrations.
* @return void
*/
public function up()
Schema::create('urls', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->id();
$table->string('original_url');
$table->string('short_code')->unique();
$table->timestamps();
});
/**
* Reverse the migrations.
* @return void
*/
public function down()
Schema::dropIfExists('urls');
Migrate the database:
php artisan migrate
That's it! You've created a basic URL shortener in Laravel. You can now run your
Laravel application using:
php artisan serve
