Laravel - Use default value if input is null

Question

In Laravel, if I've set a default value of 0 for all my integers, how can I get it to just go with its default if the request is null?

I've tried:

$property->bedrooms = $request->input('bedrooms', 0);

But it still just tries to set it as null and throws an error, as I'm assuming that's just for if the value doesn't exist at all.

Of course, I could go:

if($request->bedrooms){
    $property->bedrooms = $request->bedrooms;
}else{
    $property->bedrooms = 0;
}

...but that seems rather verbose.

Is there a neater solution I'm missing? Default values are sorta useless if you need to use an if/else every time anyway, surely.

If you don't want to remove the ConvertEmptyStringsToNull middleware you could just use a one liner ternary statement, like:$property->bedrooms = $request->bedrooms ?: 0; — Aaron Fahey
– Aaron Fahey, Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 1:34
Cheers Aaron! I guess Rob's is technically the most correct answer but that shorthand is real handy too. — MitchEff
– MitchEff, Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 1:50
Yeah, I agree! Just a trick if you need to use that middleware in other parts of your application :) — Aaron Fahey
– Aaron Fahey, Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 1:51
This should work with decent PHP versions: $property->bedrooms = $request->input('bedrooms') ?? 0; — Rimas Kudelis
– Rimas Kudelis, Commented May 28, 2019 at 8:05

Rob Fonseca · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-20 01:30:58Z

8

In Laravel 5.4, they added the ConvertEmptyStringsToNull middleware which essentially overrides the $request->input() default value as if the field is not present in the request, it will add it to the request with a value of null.

$request->input(field, default value) will work again if you comment out the middleware in app\Http\kernel.php

protected $middleware = [
        \Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\CheckForMaintenanceMode::class,
        \Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\ValidatePostSize::class,
        \App\Http\Middleware\TrimStrings::class,
        // \Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\ConvertEmptyStringsToNull::class,
    ];

answered Jul 20, 2017 at 1:30

Rob Fonseca

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1 Comment

MitchEff Over a year ago

Ahhh yes. Thanks for that, Rob!

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