Introduction
Laravel Blade is a powerful templating engine provided with Laravel, which allows PHP code to be easily managed within HTML. Blade templates offer various directives which give you convenient shortcuts for common PHP functionalities. This tutorial will introduce you to Blade directives with a range of simple to advanced examples.
Understanding Blade Directives
Directives in Blade are essentially pre-defined keywords that trigger specific PHP behavior when included in Blade templates. Directives begin with @ symbol followed by the directive name. Here are some of the most commonly used blade directives:
@sectionand@yieldfor defining sections and displaying content.@extendsfor inheriting from a master layout.@includefor including partial views.@if,@elseif,@else, and@unlessfor conditional statements.@for,@foreach,@while, and@forelsefor loops.@phpto inline PHP code.- Custom directives which can be defined using the directive method of the Blade facade.
Basic Directives
Control Structures
Control structures are used to manage the flow of information in Blade templates. Here are examples of conditional and looping directives:
<!-- if Statement -->
@if($condition)
<p>Condition is true.</p>
@endif
<!-- if-else Statement -->
@if($condition)
<p>Condition is true.</p>
@else
<p>Condition is false.</p>
@endif
<!-- unless Statement -->
@unless($condition)
<p>Condition is false.</p>
@endunless
<!-- foreach Loop -->
@foreach($array as $element)
<li>{{ $element }}</li>
@endforeach
<!-- forelse Loop -->
@forelse($array as $element)
<li>{{ $element }}</li>
@empty
<p>No items found.</p>
@endforelse
<!-- while Loop -->
@while($condition)
<p>I'm looping</p>
@php $condition = false @endphp
@endwhile
Layouts and Includes
Extending a Layout
Using the @extends directive, views can inherit from a master layout.
<!-- master.blade.php -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>App Name - @yield('title')</title>
</head>
<body>
@section('sidebar')
This is the master sidebar.
@show
<div class="container">
@yield('content')
</div>
</body>
</html>
<!-- home.blade.php -->
@extends('master')
@section('title', 'Home Page')
@section('sidebar')
@parent
<p>This is appended to the master sidebar.</p>
@endsection
@section('content')
<p>This is my body content.</p>
@endsection
Including Sub-views
With the @include directive, you can include a view within another view.
<div>
@include('shared.errors')
<form>
<!-- Form Contents -->
</form>
</div>
Advanced Directives
Creating Custom Directives
Laravel allows you to define custom directives for additional functionality. This can be done within the boot method of a service provider.
use Blade;
// Inside a service provider boot method:
Blade::directive('datetime', function ($expression) {
return "<?php echo ($expression)->format('m/d/Y H:i'); ?>";
});
// Usage in Blade template:
@datetime($dateVariable)
Environment Detection
You can use the @production and @env directives to change how the application behaves based on the environment.
@production
<script src="https://cdn.example.com/jquery.min.js"></script>
@else
<script src="/js/jquery.js"></script>
@endproduction
@env('staging')
<!-- special staging environment configurations -->
@else
<!-- configurations for other environments -->
@endenv
Stacks
Using Stacks for Assets
Blade allows you to define named stacks which can be pushed to and rendered elsewhere in the layout.
@push('scripts')
<script>console.log('Pushed to the script stack.');</script>
@endpush
// Later in the layout:
@stack('scripts')
Conclusion
This tutorial covered the basics and some advanced usage of Laravel Blade’s directives. By using these directives effectively, you can keep your views clean, modular, and maintainable. Keep in mind that a powerful application is not just about how it runs — it’s also about how it’s written.
