Eloquent Models

A table becomes an object

Eloquent is Laravel’s ORM (Object-Relational Mapper — a tool that lets you work with database rows as if they were ordinary code objects, so you write methods instead of SQL). Each table gets a model class, and you query it with simple methods — no SQL strings.

php artisan make:model Product

This creates a small model class at app/Models/Product.php. You do not have to tell it which table to use — by Laravel’s naming convention, the Product model automatically talks to the products table (singular model name, plural table name).

Now you can read data from that table using simple method calls on the model — no SQL strings:

use App\Models\Product;

$all = Product::all();             // SELECT * FROM products
$one = Product::find(1);           // find by id
$cheap = Product::where('price', '<', 500)->get();
$latest = Product::orderBy('created_at', 'desc')->take(5)->get();

Each line is an Eloquent query, and the comments show the SQL it stands in for. Product::all() fetches every row. Product::find(1) fetches the one row whose id is 1. Product::where('price', '<', 500)->get() fetches only products cheaper than 500 — you chain ->get() to actually run it. orderBy('created_at', 'desc')->take(5)->get() sorts newest first and keeps just 5. You read it almost like an English sentence, and Eloquent writes the SQL behind the scenes.

Reading data with Eloquent always follows the same few steps:

1. Run php artisan make:model Product once to create the model class for your table.
2. Bring the model into your file with use App\Models\Product; so you can call it.
3. To read all rows, call Product::all(); to read one row by its id, call Product::find($id).
4. To read a filtered set, chain conditions like ->where(...), ->orderBy(...) or ->take(...), then finish with ->get() to actually run the query.
5. Use the returned data — a single model, or a collection you can loop over in a Blade view.