Installing Laravel is not as complicated as you might have imagined. You can install Laravel on your local computer effortlessly. This guide describes an easy way to do so. We will also discuss the importance of composer, a powerful dependency manager for PHP, and its installation.
By the end of this guide, you will have a fully functional Laravel installation ready to serve the purpose of being the foundation for your future web application.
Before installing Laravel, we must install Composer and PHP on the PC. Composer is a powerful dependency manager for Laravel. It is a versatile tool that helps during installation as well as development of your Laravel project.
It streamlines the installation process for any developer and ensures a smooth and efficient development experience with Laravel. But before working with the composer, let’s install PHP first. We will cover the installation process for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Installing PHP is crucial to run Laravel, and The process of installing PHP may vary slightly depending on your operating system. Here are the general steps for installing PHP on Linux, macOS, and Windows:
Download the PHP Windows binaries from the official PHP website: https://windows.php.net/download/
Choose the appropriate PHP version for your system and download the ZIP package.
Extract the contents of the ZIP package to a directory of your choice (e.g., C:\php).
Rename the php.ini-development file to php.ini.
Update the system environment variables:
Go to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.
Click on the "Environment Variables" button.
Under "System Variables," select the "Path" variable and click "Edit."
Add the PHP installation directory (e.g., C:\php) to the list of paths.
Verify the installation:
Open Command Prompt and run php -v to see the PHP version and other information.
Open Terminal, which can be found in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder.
Install Homebrew package manager (if not already installed) by following the instructions at https://brew.sh/.
Install PHP using Homebrew:
Run brew install php in the Terminal.
Verify the installation:
Run php -v in the Terminal to see the PHP version and other information.
Open a terminal window.
Update the package manager:
For Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt update
For CentOS/RHEL: sudo yum update
Install PHP and necessary extensions:
For Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install php
For CentOS/RHEL: sudo yum install php
Verify the installation:
Run php -v in the terminal to see the PHP version and other information.
Installing Composer is easy, like installing any other program on your PC. If you don’t have Composer installed, download it from https://getcomposer.org/ and install it on your PC.
Once Composer is installed, open your command-line interface (e.g., Terminal on macOS/Linux or Command Prompt on Windows) and navigate to the directory where you want to create your Laravel project and run the command given to create a new Laravel project.
composer create-project laravel/laravel example-appThe composer will download and install Laravel and all its dependencies. It will take some time to install, depending on your internet connection.
You can also install the Laravel installer globally via Composer to create new Laravel projects effortlessly.
composer global require laravel/installer
laravel new example-appAfter completion of this step, let’s move forward.
After successfully creating the project, navigate into the project's directory to start the Laravel development server by following the given command.
cd example-app
php artisan serve By doing so, the command will start the development server at http://localhost:8000. Now you can access the Laravel application in your browser with the help of the URL.
And that’s how you install Laravel on your computer, follow through these easy steps given. And you are good to go.
After installation, you can make the Laravel development process more effortless by configuring some useful things for your future projects.
Laravel uses a database to store and retrieve data. Open the .env file in your Laravel project's root directory and configure the database connection settings, including the database driver, host, port, database name, username, and password. Ensure that the database credentials match your local development environment.
Laravel provides a convenient way to create database tables using migrations. Run the following command in the terminal to execute any pending migrations:
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php artisan migrate Migrating the database after Laravel installation, with the help of a reliable Laravel development company, helps you to create the necessary tables based on the defined migrations. This collaboration ensures that the database structure aligns perfectly with the application's models, resulting in a seamless process for storing and retrieving data.
By leveraging the expertise of a Laravel development company, you can streamline the migration process and ensure the smooth functioning of your web application.
Laravel requires an application key for encrypting cookies and other sensitive data. So, its necessary to generate application key. Generate the application key using the following command.
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php artisan key:generateThe main big reason someone starts learning and using Laravel is because of the feature list, and Laravel has tons of it. After installation, you can learn and explore the Laravel features to get an edge to make the development process easy while making your future Laravel projects. Exploring and learning not only helps you get more Laravel development services but increases your chance to work with great Laravel development companies.
Explore features like Eloquent ORM for database interactions, Blade templating engine for creating dynamic views, and artisan commands for automating tasks.
Laravel has a vast ecosystem with comprehensive documentation, forums, and online resources. All these are just a few core features that we listed. Laravel has lots of things to learn and explore. Continuously enhance your skills and explore Laravel's features to improve your development process.