How to delete file from public folder in laravel 5.1
Stefan Izdrail
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
Title: Deleting Files from Public Folder in Laravel 5.1
Introduction:
Deleting files or images associated with a particular data record is an essential functionality in many web applications. Although Laravel handles database operations smoothly, files in public directories such as images/news aren't directly linked to the app models. Therefore, you need to handle them separately for seamless deletion and data consistency. In this blog post, we will discuss how to delete a file from the public folder while performing database-related actions using Laravel 5.1.
Step 1: Set Up Environment Variables
To connect your Laravel application with the image files on the server, you need to define environment variables for both storage and app paths in your .env file. For local development, you can use absolute paths like:
STORAGE_PATH=/path/to/storage
APP_PATH=/path/public
In production environments, these paths should be relative to the project root directory. Ensure that the files and images are accessible from your application by setting correct permissions and directories.
Step 2: Delete Image File
To delete the image file from the public folder, you can use either the built-in File class or the more efficient unlink() function. In this case, you would need to include the path of the file in your controller code. It's advisable to first check if the file exists before attempting to delete it:
public function destroy($id) {
$news = News::findOrFail($id);
$image_path = app_path("images/news/{$news->photo}");
if (File::exists($image_path)) {
//Use the built-in File class method to delete file
File::delete($image_path);
} else {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Image file does not exist.');
}
$news->delete();
return redirect('admin/dashboard')->with('message','خبر موفقانه حذف شد');
}
public function destroy($id) {
$news = News::findOrFail($id);
$image_path = app_path("images/news/{$news->photo}");
if (file_exists($image_path)) {
//Use the unlink() function to delete file
unlink($image_path);
} else {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Image file does not exist.');
}
$news->delete();
return redirect('admin/dashboard')->with('message','خبر موفقانه حذف شد');
}