Building a CSV Import Command in Laravel: Tutorial

In Laravel, working with CSV files to manage data is pretty common. Laravel has tools to help with data, but building Laravel CSV import command for bringing in CSV info can speed things up. Creating a CSV import command in Laravel is great for handling lots of data at once. To make it happen, you’ll need a model and a table in your database to hold the info. Then, you can create the command and the rules to manage the CSV import. I’ll assume you know a bit about Laravel and Composer already.

Building a CSV Import Command in Laravel

Step 1: Set Up a New Laravel Project
If you don’t have a Laravel project yet, use the Laravel installer to make a new project or start working in one that already exists. This command will create a new Laravel project named laravel-built-import-csv-command. Navigate into this project directory.
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlightercomposer create-project laravel/laravel laravel-built-import-csv-command cd laravel-built-import-csv-command
Step 2: Set up the Model and Migration
Assuming you want to import CSV data into a model named Product, start by creating the migration and model.
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighterphp artisan make:migration create_products_table --create=product
Edit the generated migration file to define the products table schema in the database/migrations directory with columns like name, description, price, etc. Then, migrate the changes to your database.
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighter<?php use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration; use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint; use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema; return new class extends Migration { public function up() { Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) { $table->id(); $table->string('name'); $table->integer('price'); $table->timestamps(); }); } public function down() { Schema::dropIfExists('products'); } };
Then, run the migration to create the products table:
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighterphp artisan migrate
Step 3: Generate the Product model
Generate a model named Product using the following command:
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighterphp artisan make:model Product
Add the following code into add/Models/Product.php
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighter<?php namespace App\Models; use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory; use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model; class Product extends Model { use HasFactory; protected $fillable = [ 'name', 'price', ]; }
Step 4: Create the Import Command
Now, let’s create the custom Artisan command for importing the CSV file
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighterphp artisan make:command ImportProducts
Open the generated command file “app/Console/Commands/ImportProducts.php” and define the command signature, description, and any necessary options and arguments.
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighternamespace App\Console\Commands; use Illuminate\Console\Command; use App\Models\Product; use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator; class ImportProducts extends Command { protected $signature = 'import:products {file : The path to the CSV file}'; protected $description = 'Import products from a CSV file'; public function handle() { $file = $this->argument('file'); if (!file_exists($file)) { $this->error("The specified file does not exist: {$file}"); return; } $this->info("Importing products from: {$file}"); // Your import logic here $this->importProducts($file); $this->info('Product import completed!'); } private function importProducts($file) { // CSV parsing and import logic here // Example logic: $csvData = array_map('str_getcsv', file($file)); foreach ($csvData as $row) { $data = [ 'name' => $row[0], 'price' => $row[1], // Add more fields as needed based on your CSV structure ]; $validator = Validator::make($data, [ 'name' => 'required|string', 'price' => 'required|numeric', // Add validation rules for other fields as needed ]); if ($validator->fails()) { $this->error('Validation failed for row: ' . implode(', ', $row)); continue; } Product::create($data); } } }
Step 5: Run the Import Command
To use the newly created command, run the following command in the terminal
Copy to Clipboard
Syntax Highlighterphp artisan import:products path/to/your/csvfile.csv
Replace “path/to/your/csvfile.csv” with the actual path to your CSV file. The command will read the CSV file, validate each row, and import the valid rows into the products table using the defined import logic in the importProducts method.
That’s it! You’ve created a custom Laravel Artisan command to import CSV data into your Laravel application. You can extend this command to handle more complex import scenarios and error handling based on your project’s requirements.