Laravel 4/5 search form like
Stefan Bogdanescu
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
Title: Implementing Effective Laravel Search with Eloquent Queries
Introduction
In this comprehensive guide, we will discuss how to implement a search feature using Eloquent queries in your Laravel 4 or 5 application. We'll cover the basics of working with search forms and functions in controllers and views. By the end of this tutorial, you should have a solid understanding of building efficient search functionalities within your Laravel project.The Search Form
First things first, we need to create a custom form for searching, which will include an input field where users can input their desired search query and a submit button. Here's an example HTML code you could use in your view:<form id="custom-search-form" class="form-search form-horizontal pull-right" action="{{ URL::action('CharactersController@search') }}" method="get">
<div class="input-append span custom" style="width:auto !important;">
<input type="text" class="search-query" name="character" placeholder="Character/guild name" />
<button type="submit" class="btn" style="min-height: 30px;" data-toggle="dropdown"><i class="icon-search"></i></button>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<li><a href="#">Show All Players</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Filter By Class</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Sort By Level</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Custom Filters</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</form>This form will send the search query to the search() function in our controller when submitted. The input parameter, character, allows us to pass the user's entered text as a search term.
Controller Function: Search()
The custom controller function is responsible for handling the search request and returning the relevant results based on the search query. Here's an example implementation:public function search()
{
$name = Input::get('character');
$searchResult = Player::where('name', '=', $name)->paginate(1);
return View::make('search.search')
->with('name', $name)
->with('searchResult', $searchResult);
}In this code, we first retrieve the search query from the input field using Input::get(). Then, we use Eloquent's where clause to filter players by their name, which will be equal to the user-entered string. Finally, we call paginate(1) to display a maximum of 1 player per page, making it easier for users to browse through search results.
View: Displaying Search Results
Lastly, we need to create the view that will display our search results. With Laravel's Blade template engine, this is a simple task. Here's an example view code for showing search results:<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="span12">
<h3>Search Results</h3>
@foreach ($searchResult as $player)
<p><strong>Name:</strong> {{ $player->name }} - {{ $player->class }}</p>
... (add more relevant player details here)
@endforeach
</div>
</div>This view loops through the search results and displays each player's name, class, and additional information. By using Eloquent queries in conjunction with Laravel's framework, we can provide an efficient and user-friendly way to search for specific players in our application.