Using Laravel Seeders to Populate a Database with Test Data

Laravel provides seed classes that make it easy to populate a database with test data. All seed classes are stored in the database/seeds directory, and you should follow naming conventions such as UsersTableSeeder.

To create a new seeder, run the Artisan command: php artisan make:seeder UsersTableSeeder Each generated seeder contains a single run method, which is called when the db:seed command is executed. Inside run you can insert data manually using the query builder or Eloquent models.

Example of a DatabaseSeeder that inserts a user record:

<?php
use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder
{
    /**
     * Run the database seeds.
     */
    public function run()
    {
        DB::table('users')->insert([
            'name' => str_random(10),
            'email' => str_random(10) . '@gmail.com',
            'password' => bcrypt('secret'),
        ]);
    }
}

Instead of manually setting each attribute, you can use model factories to generate large amounts of data quickly. For example, to create 50 users and associate posts with each:

/**
 * Run the database seeds.
 */
public function run()
{
    factory(App\User::class, 50)->create()->each(function ($u) {
        $u->posts()->save(factory(App\Post::class)->make());
    });
}

In the DatabaseSeeder you can call other seeders using the call method, which keeps each seeder file small and organized:

/**
 * Run the database seeds.
 */
public function run()
{
    $this->call([
        UsersTableSeeder::class,
        PostsTableSeeder::class,
        CommentsTableSeeder::class,
    ]);
}

After writing your seeders, refresh Composer's autoloader: composer dump-autoload Then run the seeder with: php artisan db:seed To run a specific seeder, use the --class option: php artisan db:seed --class=UsersTableSeeder You can also rebuild the database and seed it in one step using:

php artisan migrate:refresh --seed