PHP Basics Every Laravel Beginner Should Know

Source: Dev.to

If you’re starting your Laravel journey, there’s one thing you should know upfront:

The better your PHP fundamentals, the easier Laravel becomes.

Many beginners jump straight into routes, controllers, and Eloquent… but struggle because the core PHP concepts remain unclear. Below are the must‑know PHP basics that will make Laravel feel smooth and intuitive.

1. Variables & Data Types

Laravel code is full of variables—controllers, Blade templates, models, and helpers all rely on them. In PHP, variables always start with $:

$name   = "Rohit"; // string
$age    = 25;       // integer
$isAdmin = true;   // boolean

Common data types you’ll see in Laravel

• Strings
• Integers
• Booleans
• Arrays
• Objects
• Null

Understanding these makes reading Laravel code much easier.

2. Arrays (Super Important in Laravel)

Laravel heavily uses arrays for config files, validation rules, request data, responses, casts, events… everywhere.

Indexed array

$frameworks = ["PHP", "Laravel", "Symfony"];

Associative array

$user = [
    "name" => "Rohit",
    "role" => "Developer"
];

Why it matters in Laravel

• Request data comes as arrays
• Config values are stored in arrays
• Validation rules are arrays
• JSON responses are often built using arrays

Being comfortable with arrays helps Laravel click faster.

3. Functions

Functions are the building blocks of reusable logic.

function greet($name) {
    return "Hello, $name!";
}

Laravel itself provides many helper functions:

• route()
• view()
• config()
• storage_path()
• response()

Once you understand regular PHP functions, Laravel’s helpers feel intuitive.

4. Conditionals & Loops

Every Laravel controller, middleware, Blade file, and model uses conditional logic.

Example (conditionals)

if ($age >= 18) {
    echo "Adult";
} else {
    echo "Minor";
}

Loops

foreach ($users as $user) {
    echo $user->name;
}

Where Laravel uses them

• Blade directives: @if, @foreach
• Policies & Gates
• Controllers
• Authorization & validation

Understanding conditionals makes Laravel’s behavior predictable.

5. Object‑Oriented PHP (The Backbone of Laravel)

Laravel is a fully OOP framework. Everything is a class: controllers, models, requests, events, jobs, middleware, notifications.

class User {
    public $name;

    public function __construct($name) {
        $this->name = $name;
    }

    public function greet() {
        return "Hello, " . $this->name;
    }
}

Key OOP concepts to master

• Classes
• Objects
• Methods
• Constructors
• Inheritance

Grasping these gives you insight into 80 % of Laravel’s structure.

6. Namespaces & Autoloading

Laravel uses namespaces to organize files and avoid naming conflicts.

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

class UserController {
    // ...
}

Thanks to Composer’s PSR‑4 autoloading, Laravel knows where your classes live. If namespaces confuse you, many Laravel errors will too, so treat this as a must‑learn.

7. Collections (Bonus for Beginners)

Laravel’s Collection class is like arrays on steroids.

Basic PHP version

$numbers = [1, 2, 3];

$mapped = array_map(fn($n) => $n * 2, $numbers);

Laravel version

collect([1, 2, 3])
    ->map(fn($n) => $n * 2)
    ->filter(fn($n) => $n > 3);

Collections make data manipulation elegant and readable.

Conclusion

Laravel is powerful, elegant, and beginner‑friendly… but only when your PHP fundamentals are strong. By mastering:

• Variables
• Arrays
• Functions
• Conditionals & Loops
• Object‑Oriented PHP
• Namespaces

you’ll understand Laravel’s architecture much faster and write cleaner code. If you’re starting your Laravel journey, make today the day you strengthen your PHP basics.