New Laravel Route “Missing” Method

With the release of Laravel v8.26.0, the Router has a new missing() method for a convenient way to handle missing records when using route model binding.

A new Route::()…->missing() method ships in today's Laravel release. Contributed by @hotmeteor … check out the docs here! https://t.co/gdhOAeJ3nS

— Taylor Otwell (@taylorotwell) February 2, 2021

By default, route model binding will return a 404 if someone tries to access an non-existent record. Currently, you’d need some customization to check and handle it accordingly. With the addition of the missing() method this scenario is much simpler:

Route::get('/locations/{location:slug}', [LocationsController::class, 'show'])
     ->name('locations.view')
     ->missing(function (Request $request) {
         return Redirect::route('locations.index');
     });

The missing() method works with route caching and should clean up scenarios where you’d like some custom handling when route model binding throws a ModelNotFound exception.

It’s features like this that make Laravel such a pleasure to use. A HUGE shout out to Adam Campbell for contributing this feature!

#Learn More

This method is documented with routing under Customizing Missing Model Behavior. If you’d like to learn more about the implementation of this feature, check out Pull Request #36035.