Create url shortener in Laravel

Creating a URL shortener in Laravel involves generating shortened versions of long URLs and redirecting users from the short URLs to the original long URLs. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a simple URL shortener using Laravel:

1. Create a New Laravel Project: If you don’t already have a Laravel project, create one using Composer:

 composer create-project laravel/laravel UrlShortener

2. Set Up Database: Configure your database connection in the .env file and run migrations to set up the necessary tables:

 php artisan migrate

3. Create Model and Migration: Create a model and migration for the Link table:

 php artisan make:model Link -m

In the generated migration file (database/migrations/yyyy_mm_dd_create_links_table.php), define the columns for the links table, such as original_url and short_code.

4. Run Migrations: Run migrations to create the links table:

 php artisan migrate

5. Create Controller: Generate a controller for handling URL shortening and redirection:

 php artisan make:controller UrlShortenerController

In the UrlShortenerController.php file, add methods for shortening URLs and redirecting to the original URLs.

6. Implement URL Shortening Logic: In the UrlShortenerController‘s shorten method, generate a unique short code and store the original URL and short code in the links table:

 public function shorten(Request $request)
 {
     $originalUrl = $request->input('url');
     $shortCode = Str::random(6); // Generate a unique short code

     Link::create([
         'original_url' => $originalUrl,
         'short_code' => $shortCode,
     ]);

     return route('short', $shortCode);
 }

7. Implement Redirection Logic: In the UrlShortenerController‘s redirect method, retrieve the original URL associated with the short code and redirect the user:

 public function redirect($shortCode)
 {
     $link = Link::where('short_code', $shortCode)->firstOrFail();
     return redirect($link->original_url);
 }

8. Define Routes: Define routes for the URL shortener in routes/web.php:

 use App\Http\Controllers\UrlShortenerController;

 Route::get('/', function () {
     return view('welcome');
 });

 Route::post('/shorten', [UrlShortenerController::class, 'shorten'])->name('shorten');
 Route::get('/{shortCode}', [UrlShortenerController::class, 'redirect'])->name('short');

9. Create Views: Create views to display the URL shortener form and success page. You can use Blade templates for this purpose.
10. Start the Development Server: Start the Laravel development server: php artisan serve

Now, when you access your application’s URL, you’ll see the URL shortener form. After submitting a long URL, you’ll be redirected to a shortened URL, and accessing the shortened URL will redirect you to the original URL.

Remember that this is a basic example of a URL shortener. For a production system, you might want to consider adding more features, validation, user accounts, and enhanced security measures.