.. index:: single: Routing
Beautiful URLs are a must for any serious web application. This means leaving behind
ugly URLs like index.php?article_id=57 in favor of something like /read/intro-to-symfony.
Having flexibility is even more important. What if you need to change the
URL of a page from /blog to /news? How many links would you need to
hunt down and update to make the change? If you're using Symfony's router,
the change is simple.
.. index:: single: Routing; Basics
A route is a map from a URL path to a controller. Suppose you want one route that
matches /blog exactly and another more dynamic route that can match any URL
like /blog/my-post or /blog/all-about-symfony.
Routes can be configured in YAML, XML and PHP. All formats provide the same features and performance, so choose the one you prefer. If you choose PHP annotations, run this command once in your app to add support for them:
$ composer require annotations
Now you can configure the routes:
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/BlogController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* Matches /blog exactly
*
* @Route("/blog", name="blog_list")
*/
public function list()
{
// ...
}
/**
* Matches /blog/*
*
* @Route("/blog/{slug}", name="blog_show")
*/
public function show($slug)
{
// $slug will equal the dynamic part of the URL
// e.g. at /blog/yay-routing, then $slug='yay-routing'
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
blog_list:
path: /blog
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::list
blog_show:
path: /blog/{slug}
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::show
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="blog_list" controller="App\Controller\BlogController::list" path="/blog" >
<!-- settings -->
</route>
<route id="blog_show" controller="App\Controller\BlogController::show" path="/blog/{slug}">
<!-- settings -->
</route>
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\BlogController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add('blog_list', new Route('/blog', array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'list']
)));
$routes->add('blog_show', new Route('/blog/{slug}', array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'show']
)));
return $routes;
Thanks to these two routes:
- If the user goes to
/blog, the first route is matched andlist()is executed; - If the user goes to
/blog/*, the second route is matched andshow()is executed. Because the route path is/blog/{slug}, a$slugvariable is passed toshow()matching that value. For example, if the user goes to/blog/yay-routing, then$slugwill equalyay-routing.
Whenever you have a {placeholder} in your route path, that portion becomes a
wildcard: it matches any value. Your controller can now also have an argument
called $placeholder (the wildcard and argument names must match).
Each route also has an internal name: blog_list and blog_show. These can
be anything (as long as each is unique) and don't have any meaning yet. You'll
use them later to :ref:`generate URLs <routing-generate>`.
Routing in Other Formats
The @Route above each method is called an annotation. If you'd rather
configure your routes in YAML, XML or PHP, that's no problem! Just create a
new routing file (e.g. routes.xml) and Symfony will automatically use it.
.. versionadded:: 4.1
The feature to localize routes was introduced in Symfony 4.1.
Routes can be localized to provide unique paths per :doc:`locale </translation/locale>`. Symfony provides a handy way to declare localized routes without duplication.
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/CompanyController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class CompanyController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route({
* "nl": "/over-ons",
* "en": "/about-us"
* }, name="about_us")
*/
public function about()
{
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
about_us:
path:
nl: /over-ons
en: /about-us
controller: App\Controller\CompanyController::about
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="about_us" controller="App\Controller\CompanyController::about">
<path locale="nl">/over-ons</path>
<path locale="en">/about-us</path>
</route>
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
namespace Symfony\Component\Routing\Loader\Configurator;
return function (RoutingConfigurator $routes) {
$routes->add('about_us', ['nl' => '/over-ons', 'en' => '/about-us'])
->controller('App\Controller\CompanyController::about');
};
When a localized route is matched Symfony automatically knows which locale should be used during the request. Defining routes this way also eliminated the need for duplicate registration of routes which minimizes the risk for any bugs caused by definition inconsistency.
Tip
If the application uses full language + territory locales (e.g. fr_FR,
fr_BE), you can use the language part only in your routes (e.g. fr).
This prevents having to define multiple paths when you want to use the same
route path for locales that share the same language.
.. versionadded:: 4.2
The feature to fall back on the language part only was introduced in Symfony 4.2.
A common requirement for internationalized applications is to prefix all routes with a locale. This can be done by defining a different prefix for each locale (and setting an empty prefix for your default locale if you prefer it):
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes/annotations.yaml
controllers:
resource: '../src/Controller/'
type: annotation
prefix:
en: '' # don't prefix URLs for English, the default locale
fr: '/fr'
es: '/es'
Imagine the blog_list route will contain a paginated list of blog posts, with
URLs like /blog/2 and /blog/3 for pages 2 and 3. If you change the route's
path to /blog/{page}, you'll have a problem:
- blog_list:
/blog/{page}will match/blog/*; - blog_show:
/blog/{slug}will also match/blog/*.
When two routes match the same URL, the first route that's loaded wins. Unfortunately,
that means that /blog/yay-routing will match the blog_list. No good!
To fix this, add a requirement that the {page} wildcard can only match numbers
(digits):
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/BlogController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route("/blog/{page}", name="blog_list", requirements={"page"="\d+"})
*/
public function list($page)
{
// ...
}
/**
* @Route("/blog/{slug}", name="blog_show")
*/
public function show($slug)
{
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
blog_list:
path: /blog/{page}
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::list
requirements:
page: '\d+'
blog_show:
# ...
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="blog_list" path="/blog/{page}" controller="App\Controller\BlogController::list">
<requirement key="page">\d+</requirement>
</route>
<!-- ... -->
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\BlogController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add('blog_list', new Route('/blog/{page}', array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'list'],
), array(
'page' => '\d+'
)));
// ...
return $routes;
The \d+ is a regular expression that matches a digit of any length. Now:
| URL | Route | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
/blog/2 |
blog_list |
$page = 2 |
/blog/yay-routing |
blog_show |
$slug = yay-routing |
If you prefer, requirements can be inlined in each placeholder using the syntax
{placeholder_name<requirements>}. This feature makes configuration more
concise, but it can decrease route readability when requirements are complex:
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/BlogController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route("/blog/{page<\d+>}", name="blog_list")
*/
public function list($page)
{
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
blog_list:
path: /blog/{page<\d+>}
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::list
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="blog_list" path="/blog/{page<\d+>}"
controller="App\Controller\BlogController::list" />
<!-- ... -->
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\BlogController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add('blog_list', new Route('/blog/{page<\d+>}', array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'list'],
)));
// ...
return $routes;
.. versionadded:: 4.1
The feature to inline requirements was introduced in Symfony 4.1.
To learn about other route requirements - like HTTP method, hostname and dynamic expressions - see :doc:`/routing/requirements`.
In the previous example, the blog_list has a path of /blog/{page}. If
the user visits /blog/1, it will match. But if they visit /blog, it
will not match. As soon as you add a {placeholder} to a route, it
must have a value.
So how can you make blog_list once again match when the user visits
/blog? By adding a default value:
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/BlogController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route("/blog/{page}", name="blog_list", requirements={"page"="\d+"})
*/
public function list($page = 1)
{
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
blog_list:
path: /blog/{page}
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::list
defaults:
page: 1
requirements:
page: '\d+'
blog_show:
# ...
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="blog_list" path="/blog/{page}" controller="App\Controller\BlogController::list">
<default key="page">1</default>
<requirement key="page">\d+</requirement>
</route>
<!-- ... -->
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\BlogController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add('blog_list', new Route(
'/blog/{page}',
array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'list'],
'page' => 1,
),
array(
'page' => '\d+'
)
));
// ...
return $routes;
Now, when the user visits /blog, the blog_list route will match and
$page will default to a value of 1.
As it happens with requirements, default values can also be inlined in each
placeholder using the syntax {placeholder_name?default_value}. This feature
is compatible with inlined requirements, so you can inline both in a single
placeholder:
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/BlogController.php
namespace App\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route("/blog/{page<\d+>?1}", name="blog_list")
*/
public function list($page)
{
// ...
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
blog_list:
path: /blog/{page<\d+>?1}
controller: App\Controller\BlogController::list
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="blog_list" path="/blog/{page <\d+>?1}"
controller="App\Controller\BlogController::list" />
<!-- ... -->
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\BlogController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add('blog_list', new Route('/blog/{page<\d+>?1}', array(
'_controller' => [BlogController::class, 'list'],
)));
// ...
return $routes;
Tip
To give a null default value to any placeholder, add nothing after the
? character (e.g. /blog/{page?}).
.. versionadded:: 4.1
The feature to inline default values was introduced in Symfony 4.1.
As your app grows, you'll eventually have a lot of routes! To see them all, run:
$ php bin/console debug:router
------------------------------ -------- -------------------------------------
Name Method Path
------------------------------ -------- -------------------------------------
app_lucky_number ANY /lucky/number/{max}
...
------------------------------ -------- -------------------------------------
.. index:: single: Routing; Advanced example single: Routing; _format parameter
With all of this in mind, check out this advanced example:
.. configuration-block::
.. code-block:: php-annotations
// src/Controller/ArticleController.php
// ...
class ArticleController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* @Route(
* "/articles/{_locale}/{year}/{slug}.{_format}",
* defaults={"_format": "html"},
* requirements={
* "_locale": "en|fr",
* "_format": "html|rss",
* "year": "\d+"
* }
* )
*/
public function show($_locale, $year, $slug)
{
}
}
.. code-block:: yaml
# config/routes.yaml
article_show:
path: /articles/{_locale}/{year}/{slug}.{_format}
controller: App\Controller\ArticleController::show
defaults:
_format: html
requirements:
_locale: en|fr
_format: html|rss
year: \d+
.. code-block:: xml
<!-- config/routes.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
<route id="article_show"
path="/articles/{_locale}/{year}/{slug}.{_format}"
controller="App\Controller\ArticleController::show">
<default key="_format">html</default>
<requirement key="_locale">en|fr</requirement>
<requirement key="_format">html|rss</requirement>
<requirement key="year">\d+</requirement>
</route>
</routes>
.. code-block:: php
// config/routes.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\RouteCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;
use App\Controller\ArticleController;
$routes = new RouteCollection();
$routes->add(
'article_show',
new Route('/articles/{_locale}/{year}/{slug}.{_format}', array(
'_controller' => [ArticleController::class, 'show'],
'_format' => 'html',
), array(
'_locale' => 'en|fr',
'_format' => 'html|rss',
'year' => '\d+',
))
);
return $routes;
As you've seen, this route will only match if the {_locale} portion of
the URL is either en or fr and if the {year} is a number. This
route also shows how you can use a dot between placeholders instead of
a slash. URLs matching this route might look like:
/articles/en/2010/my-post/articles/fr/2010/my-post.rss/articles/en/2013/my-latest-post.html
The Special _format Routing Parameter
This example also highlights the special _format routing parameter.
When using this parameter, the matched value becomes the "request format"
of the Request object.
Ultimately, the request format is used for such things as setting the
Content-Type of the response (e.g. a json request format translates
into a Content-Type of application/json).
Note
Sometimes you want to make certain parts of your routes globally configurable. Symfony provides you with a way to do this by leveraging service container parameters. Read more about this in ":doc:`/routing/service_container_parameters`".
As you've seen, each routing parameter or default value is eventually available as an argument in the controller method. Additionally, there are four parameters that are special: each adds a unique piece of functionality inside your application:
_controller- As you've seen, this parameter is used to determine which controller is executed when the route is matched.
_format- Used to set the request format (:ref:`read more <routing-format-param>`).
_fragment- Used to set the fragment identifier, the optional last part of a URL that
starts with a
#character and is used to identify a portion of a document. _locale- Used to set the locale on the request (:ref:`read more <translation-locale-url>`).
Historically, URLs have followed the UNIX convention of adding trailing slashes
for directories (e.g. https://example.com/foo/) and removing them to refer
to files (https://example.com/foo). Although serving different contents for
both URLs is OK, nowadays it's common to treat both URLs as the same URL and
redirect between them.
Symfony follows this logic to redirect between URLs with and without trailing
slashes (but only for GET and HEAD requests):
| Route path | If the requested URL is /foo |
If the requested URL is /foo/ |
/foo |
It matches (200 status response) |
It makes a 301 redirect to /foo |
/foo/ |
It makes a 301 redirect to /foo/ |
It matches (200 status response) |
Note
If your application defines different routes for each path (/foo and
/foo/) this automatic redirection doesn't take place and the right
route is always matched.
.. versionadded:: 4.1
The automatic ``301`` redirection from ``/foo/`` to ``/foo`` was introduced
in Symfony 4.1. In previous Symfony versions this results in a ``404`` response.
.. index:: single: Routing; Controllers single: Controller; String naming format
The controller value in your routes has a very simple format CONTROLLER_CLASS::METHOD.
Tip
To refer to an action that is implemented as the __invoke() method of a controller class,
you do not have to pass the method name, but can just use the fully qualified class name (e.g.
App\Controller\BlogController).
.. index:: single: Routing; Generating URLs
The routing system can also generate URLs. In reality, routing is a bidirectional system: mapping the URL to a controller and also a route back to a URL.
To generate a URL, you need to specify the name of the route (e.g. blog_show)
and any wildcards (e.g. slug = my-blog-post) used in the path for that
route. With this information, any URL can easily be generated:
class MainController extends AbstractController
{
public function show($slug)
{
// ...
// /blog/my-blog-post
$url = $this->generateUrl(
'blog_show',
array('slug' => 'my-blog-post')
);
}
}
If you need to generate a URL from a service, type-hint the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Routing\\Generator\\UrlGeneratorInterface` service:
// src/Service/SomeService.php
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Generator\UrlGeneratorInterface;
class SomeService
{
private $router;
public function __construct(UrlGeneratorInterface $router)
{
$this->router = $router;
}
public function someMethod()
{
$url = $this->router->generate(
'blog_show',
array('slug' => 'my-blog-post')
);
// ...
}
}
.. index:: single: Routing; Generating URLs in a template
The generate() method takes an array of wildcard values to generate the URI.
But if you pass extra ones, they will be added to the URI as a query string:
$this->router->generate('blog', array(
'page' => 2,
'category' => 'Symfony',
));
// /blog/2?category=Symfony
When a route is localized, Symfony uses by default the current request locale to
generate the URL. In order to generate the URL for a different locale you must
pass the _locale in the parameters array:
$this->router->generate('about_us', array(
'_locale' => 'nl',
));
// generates: /over-ons
To generate URLs inside Twig, see the templating article: :ref:`templating-pages`. If you also need to generate URLs in JavaScript, see :doc:`/routing/generate_url_javascript`.
.. index:: single: Routing; Absolute URLs
By default, the router will generate relative URLs (e.g. /blog). From
a controller, pass UrlGeneratorInterface::ABSOLUTE_URL to the third argument of the generateUrl()
method:
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Generator\UrlGeneratorInterface;
$this->generateUrl('blog_show', array('slug' => 'my-blog-post'), UrlGeneratorInterface::ABSOLUTE_URL);
// http://www.example.com/blog/my-blog-post
Note
The host that's used when generating an absolute URL is automatically
detected using the current Request object. When generating absolute
URLs from outside the web context (for instance in a console command) this
doesn't work. See :doc:`/console/request_context` to learn how to
solve this problem.
Here are some common errors you might see while working with routing:
Controller "App\Controller\BlogController::show()" requires that you provide a value for the "$slug" argument.
This happens when your controller method has an argument (e.g. $slug):
public function show($slug)
{
// ..
}
But your route path does not have a {slug} wildcard (e.g. it is /blog/show).
Add a {slug} to your route path: /blog/show/{slug} or give the argument
a default value (i.e. $slug = null).
Some mandatory parameters are missing ("slug") to generate a URL for route "blog_show".
This means that you're trying to generate a URL to the blog_show route but you
are not passing a slug value (which is required, because it has a {slug})
wildcard in the route path. To fix this, pass a slug value when generating the
route:
$this->generateUrl('blog_show', array('slug' => 'slug-value'));
// or, in Twig
// {{ path('blog_show', {'slug': 'slug-value'}) }}
Routing, check! Now, uncover the power of :doc:`controllers </controller>`.
.. toctree::
:hidden:
controller
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:glob:
routing/*