Laravel 9 is the latest version of the popular PHP framework, bringing with it a host of new features and improvements. In this article, we'll walk through the basics of getting started with Laravel 9.

Installation

The first step is to install Laravel using Composer:

composer create-project laravel/laravel example-app

This will create a new Laravel project in a directory called "example-app". Once the installation is complete, you can navigate to the project directory and start the development server:

cd example-app
php artisan serve

Directory Structure

Laravel follows a clean and organized directory structure that makes it easy to understand where different parts of your application should go. The main directories you'll work with are:

  • app - Contains your application's core code
  • config - Configuration files
  • database - Database migrations and seeders
  • resources - Views, assets, and language files
  • routes - Application routes

Routing

Laravel makes routing simple and intuitive. Routes are defined in the routes/web.php file. Here's an example of a basic route:

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

Conclusion

This is just the beginning of what you can do with Laravel 9. As you explore the framework, you'll discover many powerful features that make web development faster and more enjoyable.