In this thread I'll list tactics you can use to write cleaner code. As you get used to them, you'll develop a sense for what's good code and what's bad code.
I'll also sprinkle some general Laravel advice in between these tactics.
Using some "macro" philosophy for structuring your code, like hexagonal architecture or DDD won't save you.
A clean codebase is the result of constant good decisions at the micro level.
Instead of writing repetitive else if statements, use an array to look up the wanted value based on the key you have.
The code will be cleaner & more readable and you will see understandable exceptions if something goes wrong. No half-passing edge cases.
Bad:
if ($order->product->option->type === 'pdf') {
$type = 'book';
} else if ($order->product->option->type === 'epub') {
$type = 'book';
} else if ($order->product->option->type === 'license') {
$type = 'license';
} else if ($order->product->option->type === 'artwork') {
$type = 'creative';
} else if ($order->product->option->type === 'song') {
$type = 'creative';
} else if ($order->product->option->type === 'physical') {
$type = 'physical';
}
if ($type === 'book') {
$downloadable = true;
} else if ($type === 'license') {
$downloadable = true;
} else if ($type === 'creative') {
$downloadable = true;
} else if ($type === 'physical') {
$downloadable = false;
}Good:
$type = [
'pdf' => 'book',
'epub' => 'book',
'license' => 'license',
'artwork' => 'creative',
'song' => 'creative',
'physical' => 'physical',
][$order->product->option->type];
$downloadable = [
'book' => true,
'license' => true,
'creative' => true,
'physical' => false,
][$type];Try to avoid unnecessary nesting by returning a value early.
Too much nesting & else statements tend to make code harder to read.
Bad:
if ($notificationSent) {
$notify = false;
} else {
if ($isActive) {
if ($total > 100) {
$notify = true;
} else {
$notify = false;
}
} else {
if ($canceled) {
$notify = true;
} else {
$notify = false;
}
}
}
return $notify;Good:
if ($notificationSent) {
return false;
}
if ($isActive && $total > 100) {
return true;
}
if (! $isActive && $canceled) {
return true;
}
return false;Don't split lines at random places, but don't make them too long either.
Opening an array with [ and indenting the values tends to work well. Same with long function parameter values.
Other good places to split lines are chained calls and closures.
Bad:
// No line split
return $this->request->session()->get($this->config->get('analytics.campaign_session_key'));
// Meaningless line split
return $this->request
->session()->get($this->config->get('analytics.campaign_session_key'));Good:
return $this->request->session()->get(
$this->config->get('analytics.campaign_session_key')
);
// Closure
new EventCollection($this->events->map(function (Event $event) {
return new Entries\Event($event->code, $event->pivot->data);
}))
// Array
$this->validate($request, [
'code' => 'string|required',
'name' => 'string|required',
]);Don't create variables when you can just pass the value directly.
Bad:
public function create()
{
$data = [
'resource' => 'campaign',
'generatedCode' => Str::random(8),
];
return $this->inertia('Resource/Create', $data);
}Good:
public function create()
{
return $this->inertia('Resource/Create', [
'resource' => 'campaign',
'generatedCode' => Str::random(8),
]);
}The opposite of the previous tip. Sometimes the value comes from a complex call and as such, creating a variable improves readability & removes the need for a comment.
Remember that context matters & your end goal is readability
Bad:
Visit::create([
'url' => $visit->url,
'referer' => $visit->referer,
'user_id' => $visit->userId,
'ip' => $visit->ip,
'timestamp' => $visit->timestamp,
])->conversion_goals()->attach($conversionData);Good:
$visit = Visit::create([
'url' => $visit->url,
'referer' => $visit->referer,
'user_id' => $visit->userId,
'ip' => $visit->ip,
'timestamp' => $visit->timestamp,
]);
$visit->conversion_goals()->attach($conversionData);Your controllers should be simple. They should say things like "create invoice for order". They shouldn't be concerned with the details of how your database is structured.
Leave that to the model.
Bad:
// Create invoice for order
DB::transaction(function () use ($order) {
$invoice = $order->invoice()->create();
$order->pushStatus(new AwaitingShipping);
return $invoice;
});Good:
$order->createInvoice();Let's expand on the previous example. Sometimes, creating a class for a single action can clean things up.
Models should encapsulate the business logic related to them, but they shouldn't be too big.
Bad:
public function createInvoice(): Invoice
{
if ($this->invoice()->exists()) {
throw new OrderAlreadyHasAnInvoice('Order already has an invoice.');
}
return DB::transaction(function () use ($order) {
$invoice = $order->invoice()->create();
$order->pushStatus(new AwaitingShipping);
return $invoice;
});
}Good:
// Order model
public function createInvoice(): Invoice
{
if ($this->invoice()->exists()) {
throw new OrderAlreadyHasAnInvoice('Order already has an invoice.');
}
return app(CreateInvoiceForOrder::class)($this);
}
// Action class
class CreateInvoiceForOrder
{
public function __invoke(Order $order): Invoice
{
return DB::transaction(function () use ($order) {
$invoice = $order->invoice()->create();
$order->pushStatus(new AwaitingShipping);
return $invoice;
});
}
}They're a great place to hide complex validation logic.
But beware of exactly that — hiding things. When your validation logic is simple, there's nothing wrong with doing it in the controller. Moving it to a form request makes it less explicit
/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'title' => 'required|unique:posts|max:255',
'body' => 'required',
];
}Consider offloading some logic from controllers to events. For example, when creating models. The benefit is that creating these models will work the same everywhere (controllers, jobs, ...) and the controller has one less worry about the details of the DB schema
Bad:
// Only works in this place & concerns it with
// details that the model should care about.
if (! isset($data['name'])) {
$data['name'] = $data['code'];
}
$conversion = Conversion::create($data);Good:
$conversion = Conversion::create($data);
// Model
class ConversionGoal extends Model
{
public static function booted()
{
static::creating(function (self $model) {
$model->name ??= $model->code;
});
}
}If some method is too long or complex, and it's hard to understand what exactly is happening, split the logic into multiple methods.
public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
{
// We extracted 3 long methods into separate methods.
$this->trackVisitor();
$this->trackCampaign();
$this->trackTrafficSource($request);
$response = $next($request);
$this->analytics->log($request);
return $response;
}If you repeat some code a lot, consider if extracting it to a helper function would make the code cleaner.
// app/helpers.php, autoloaded in composer.json
function money(int $amount, string $currency = null): Money
{
return new Money($amount, $currency ?? config('shop.base_currency'));
}
function html2text($html = ''): string
{
return str_replace(' ', ' ', strip_tags($html));
}Sometimes people put helpers into a class.
Beware, it can get messy. This is a class with only static methods used as helper functions. It's usually better to put these methods into classes with related logic or just keep them as global functions.
Bad:
class Helper
{
public function convertCurrency(Money $money, string $currency): self
{
// We're converting from current currency, to base currency and finally to the new currency
$newCurrencyConfig = config("shop.currencies.$currency");
$mathDecimalDifference = $newCurrencyConfig['math_decimals'] - config("shop.currencies." . config('shop.base_currency') . ".math_decimals");
return new static(
(int) round($money->baseValue() * $newCurrencyConfig['value'] * 10**$mathDecimalDifference, 0),
$currency
);
}
}
// Usage:
use App\Helper;
Helper::convertCurrency($total, 'EUR');Good:
class Money
{
// the other money/currency logic
public function convertTo(string $currency): self
{
// We're converting from current currency, to base currency and finally to the new currency
$newCurrencyConfig = config("shop.currencies.$currency");
$mathDecimalDifference = $newCurrencyConfig['math_decimals'] - config("shop.currencies." . config('shop.base_currency') . ".math_decimals");
return new static(
(int) round($this->baseValue() * $newCurrencyConfig['value'] * 10**$mathDecimalDifference, 0),
$currency
);
}
}
// Usage
$EURtotal = $total->convertTo('EUR');Know the difference between static/instance methods & variables and private/protected/public visibility. Also learn how Laravel uses magic methods.
You don't need this as a beginner, but as your code grows, it's crucial.
This ties the previous tweet with the other tips here. OOP exists to make your code more readable, use it. Don't just write 400 line long procedural code in controller actions.
Avoid having classes that deal with many unrelated things.
But, for the love of god, don't create a class for every single thing. You're trying to write clean code. You're not trying to please the separation gods
- The function has too many responsibilities. Separate.
- The responsibilities are fine, but you should refactor the long signature.
Below are two tactics for the fixing second case.
Rather than passing a huge amount of arguments in a specific order, consider creating an object with properties to store this data.
Bonus points if you can find that some behavior can be moved into to this object.
Bad:
public function log($url, $route_name, $route_data, $campaign_code, $traffic_source, $referer, $user_id, $visitor_id, $ip, $timestamp)
{
// ...
}Good:
public function log(Visit $visit)
{
// ...
}
class Visit
{
public string $url;
public ?string $routeName;
public array $routeData;
public ?string $campaign;
public array $trafficSource = [];
public ?string $referer;
public ?string $userId;
public string $visitorId;
public ?string $ip;
public Carbon $timestamp;
// ...
}You can also create objects with fluent APIs. Gradually add data by with separate calls, and only require the absolute minimum in the constructor.
Each method will return $this, so you can stop at any call.
Visit::make($url, $routeName, $routeData)
->withCampaign($campaign)
->withTrafficSource($trafficSource)
->withReferer($referer)
// ... etcCreating custom collections can be a great way to achieve more expressive syntax. Consider this example with order totals.
Bad:
$total = $order->products->sum(function (OrderProduct $product) {
return $product->price * $product->quantity * (1 + $product->vat_rate);
});Good:
$order->products->total();
class OrderProductCollection extends Collection
{
public function total()
{
$this->->sum(function (OrderProduct $product) {
return $product->price * $product->quantity * (1 + $product->vat_rate);
});
}
}Don't think that long variable/method names are wrong. They're not. They're expressive.
Better to call a longer method than a short one and check the docblock to understand what it does.
Same with variables. Don't use nonsense 3-letters abbreviations
Bad:
$ord = Order::create($data);
// ...
$ord->notify();Good:
$order = Order::create($data);
// ...
$order->sendCreatedNotification();If you can, only use the 7 CRUD methods in your controllers - often fewer. Don't create controllers with 20 methods. Rather than having PodcastController::subscribe(), create PodcastSubscriptionController::store(). More shorter controllers is better.
"Cruddy by Design" - Adam Wathan - Laracon US 2017
Rather than thinking "what can this object do", think about "what can be done with this object". Exceptions apply, such as with action classes, but this is a good rule of thumb.
"Resisting Complexity" - Adam Wathan - Laracon US 2018
Bad:
$gardener->water($plant);
$orderManager->lock($order);Good:
$plant->water();
$order->lock();Adding methods to classes where they belong is cleaner than creating action classes for everything, but it can make the classes grow big.
Consider using traits. They're meant primarily for code reuse, but there's nothing wrong with single-use traits.
Bad:
class Order extends Model
{
// ...
public static function bootHasStatuses() { ... }
public static $statusMap = [ ... ];
public static $paymentStatusMap = [ ... ];
public static function getStatusId($status) { ... }
public static function getPaymentStatusId($status): string { ... }
public function statuses() { ... }
public function payment_statuses() { ... }
public function getStatusAttribute(): OrderStatusModel { ... }
public function getPaymentStatusAttribute(): OrderPaymentStatus { ... }
public function pushStatus($status, string $message = null, bool $notification = null) { ... }
public function pushPaymentStatus($status, string $note = null) { ... }
public function status(): OrderStatus { ... }
public function paymentStatus(): PaymentStatus { ... }
}Good:
class Order extends Model
{
use HasStatuses;
// ...
}
trait HasStatuses
{
public static function bootHasStatuses() { ... }
public static $statusMap = [ ... ];
public static $paymentStatusMap = [ ... ];
public static function getStatusId($status) { ... }
public static function getPaymentStatusId($status): string { ... }
public function statuses() { ... }
public function payment_statuses() { ... }
public function getStatusAttribute(): OrderStatusModel { ... }
public function getPaymentStatusAttribute(): OrderPaymentStatus { ... }
public function pushStatus($status, string $message = null, bool $notification = null) { ... }
public function pushPaymentStatus($status, string $note = null) { ... }
public function status(): OrderStatus { ... }
public function paymentStatus(): PaymentStatus { ... }
}Similar to single-use traits.
This tactic is great when you have a very long template and you want to make it more manageable.
There's nothing wrong with @including headers and footers in layouts, or things like complex forms in page views.
Sometimes you may have multiple classes with the same name. Rather than importing them with an alias, import the namespaces.
Bad:
use App\Types\Entries\Visit as VisitEntry;
use App\Storage\Database\Models\Visit as VisitModel;
class DatabaseStorage
{
public function log(VisitEntry $visit)
{
$visitModel = VisitModel::create([
...
]);
}
}Good:
use App\Types\Entries;
use App\Storage\Database\Models;
class DatabaseStorage
{
public function log(Entries\Visit $visit)
{
$visitModel = Models\Visit::create([
...
]);
}
}Rather than writing complex where() clauses, create query scopes with expressive names. This will make your e.g. controllers have to know less about the database structure and your code will be cleaner.
Bad:
Order::whereHas('status', function ($status) {
$status->where('canceled', true);
})->get();Good:
Order::whereCanceled()->get();
class Order extends Model
{
public function scopeWhereCanceled(Builder $query)
{
$query->whereHas('status', function ($status) {
$status->where('canceled', true);
})->get();
}
}If you want to retrieve some data from a model, create an accessor. Keep methods for things which change the model in some way.
Bad:
$user->gravatarUrl();
class User extends Authenticable
{
// ...
public function gravatarUrl()
{
return "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/" . md5(strtolower(trim($this->email)));
}
}Good:
$user->gravatar_url;
class User extends Authenticable
{
// ...
public function getGravatarUrlAttribute()
{
return "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/" . md5(strtolower(trim($this->email)));
}
}You can store things like "results per page" in config files. Don't add them to the app config file though. Create your own. In my e-commerce project, I use config/shop.php.
return [
'vat_rates' => [
0.21,
0.15,
0.10,
0.0,
],
'fee_vat_rate' => 0.21,
'image_sizes' => [
'base' => 500, // detail
't1' => 250, // index
't2' => 50, // search
],
];Instead of writing controller actions like PostController@index, use the callable array syntax [PostController::class, 'index']. You will be able to navigate to the class by clicking PostController.
Bad:
Route::get('/posts', 'PostController@index');Good:
Route::get('/posts', [PostController::class, 'index']);If you have a complex route action, consider moving it to a separate controller.
For OrderController::create, you'd create CreateOrderController.
Another solution is to move that logic to an action class — do what works best in your case.
// We use class syntax from the tip above.
Route::post('/orders/', CreateOrderController::class);
class CreateOrderController
{
public function __invoke(Request $request)
{
// ...
}
}Install extensions, write annotations, use typehints. Your IDE will help you with getting your code working correctly, which lets you spend more energy on writing code that's also readable.
$products = Product::with('options')->cursor();
foreach ($products as $product) {
/** @var Product $product */
if ($product->options->isEmpty()) {
///////////////////////////
foreach (Order::whereDoesntHave('invoice')->whereIn('id', $orders->pluck('id'))->get() as $order) {
/** @var Order $order */
$order->createInvoice();
}
///////////////////////////
->help('Max 2 MB')
->store(function (NovaRequest $request, ProductModel $product) {
/** @var UploadedFile $image */
$image = $request->image;PHP has many great operators that can replace ugly if checks. Memorize them.
// truthy test
// ❌ // ✅
if (! $foo) { $foo = $foo ?: 'bar';
$foo = 'bar';
}
// null test
// ❌ // ✅
if (is_null($foo)) { $foo = $foo ?? 'bar';
$foo = 'bar';
} // ✅ PHP 7.4
$foo ??= 'bar';
// isset test
// ❌ // ✅
if (! isset($foo)) { $foo = $foo ?? 'bar';
$foo = 'bar';
} // ✅ PHP 7.4
$foo ??= 'bar';Above you can see that I use space between ! and the value I'm negating. I like this, because it makes it clear that the value is being negated. I do the same around dots.
Decide if you like it. It can (imo) clean up your code.
This is largely a matter of personal preference, but calling a global function instead of having to import a class and statically call a method feels nicer to me.
Bonus points for session('key') syntax.
// ❌
Cache::get('foo');
// ✅
cache()->get('foo');
// 😍
cache('foo');You can make your Blade templates more expressive by creating custom directives. For example, rather than checking if the user has the admin role, you could use @admin.
Bad:
@if(auth()->user()->hasRole('admin'))
// ...
@else
// ...
@endifGood:
@admin
// ...
@else
// ...
@endadminSometimes you may want to execute DB queries in blade. There are some ok use cases for this, such as in layout files.
But if it's a view returned by a controller, pass the data in the view data instead.
Bad:
@foreach(Product::where('enabled', false)->get() as $product)
// ...
@endforeachGood:
// Controller
return view('foo', [
'disabledProducts' => Product::where('enabled', false)->get(),
]);
// View
@foreach($disabledProducts as $product)
// ...
@endforeachALWAYS use strict comparison (=== and !==). If needed, cast things go the correct type before comparing. Better than unsafe results from ==
Also consider enabling strict types in your code. This will prevent passing variables of wrong data types to functions
// ❌
$foo == 'bar';
// ✅
$foo === 'bar';
// 💪
declare(strict_types=1);Many people will disagree with this, because they do it. But it makes no sense.
There's no point in using docblocks when they don't give any extra information. If the typehint is enough, don't add a docblock.
That's just noise.
// 🤮 No types at all
function add_5($foo)
{
return $foo + 5;
}
// ✅ Everything is clear without a docblock
function add_5(int $foo)
{
return $foo + 5;
}
// ❌ The @param annotation adds precisely 0% value and 100% noise.
/**
* Add 5 to a number.
*
* @param int $foo
* @return int
*/
function add_5(int $foo): int
{
return $foo + 5;
}
// 😎 The typehint said as much as it could & the annotation said even more.
/**
* Turn words into a sentence.
*
* @param string[] $words
* @return string
*/
function sentenceFromWords(array $words): string
{
return implode(' ', $words) . '.';
}
// 🚀Personal favourite. Only use annotations that bring value.
// Don't use description - param - return just because it's standard.
/** @param string[] $words */
function sentenceFromWords(array $words): string
{
return implode(' ', $words) . '.';
}Have a single source of truth for validation rules.
If you validate some resource's attributes on multiple places, you definitely want to centralize these validation rules, so that you don't change them in one place but forget about the other places.
Models can be a good place for this.
https://twitter.com/LiamHammett/status/1260252814158282752
Don't turn all arrays into collections just because Laravel offers them, but DO turn arrays into collections when you can make use of collection syntax to clean up your code.
$collection = collect([
['name' => 'Regena', 'age' => null],
['name' => 'Linda', 'age' => 14],
['name' => 'Diego', 'age' => 23],
['name' => 'Linda', 'age' => 84],
]);
$collection->firstWhere('age', '>=', 18);Functional code can both clean things up and make them impossible to understand. Refactor common loops into functional calls, but don't write stupidly complex reduce()s just to avoid writing a loop. There's a use case for both.
Good FP:
return $this->items()->reduce(function (Money $sum, OrderItem $item) {
return $sum->addMoney($item->subtotal());
}, money(0, $this->currency));Bad FP:
// Actual code I wrote 🙃
return array_unique(array_reduce($keywords, function ($result, $keyword) {
return array_merge($result, array_reduce($this->variantGenerators, function ($result2, $generator) use ($keyword) {
return array_merge($result2, array_map(function ($variant) {
return strtolower($variant);
}, $generator::getVariants($keyword)));
}, []));
}, []));Before writing a comment, ask yourself if you could rename some things or create variables to improve readability. If that's not possible, write the comment in a way that both your colleagues and you will understand in 6 months.
Above I said that moving business logic to action/service classes is good. But context matters.
Here's code design advice from a popular "Laravel best practices" repo. There's absolutely no reason to put a 3-line check into a class. That's just overengineered.
https://twitter.com/samuelstancl/status/1272826465378357251
This goes in hand with the previous tweet. Your goal to write more readable code. Your goal is NOT to do what someone said on the internet.
These tips are just tactics that tend to help with clean code. Keep your end goal in mind and ask yourself "is this better?".