helperfunctions

Name: Laravel Helper Functions Description: Always prefer Laravel's built-in helper classes over native PHP functions. Use Arr::, Str::, and Collection methods instead of native PHP equivalents. Compatible Agents: general-purpose, backend Tags: app/**/*.php, laravel, php, backend, helpers, arr, str, collection

Rules

• Always prefer Laravel's built-in helper classes over native PHP functions
• Arrays: Use Arr:: (import Illuminate\Support\Arr) — never use array_map, array_filter, in_array, array_key_exists, etc. when a Laravel equivalent exists
• Strings: Use Str:: (import Illuminate\Support\Str) — never use substr, strpos, str_replace, strtolower, etc. when a Laravel equivalent exists
• Collections: Prefer collect() + Collection methods over manual array loops
• Use Str::of() for chaining multiple string operations
• Use collect() to wrap any array or iterable when performing multiple operations

Examples

// Arrays
use Illuminate\Support\Arr;

// ✓ Dot-notation access
Arr::get($array, 'user.address.city', 'Unknown');
// ❌ $array['user']['address']['city'] ?? 'Unknown'

// ✓ Keep only specific keys
Arr::only($array, ['name', 'email']);
// ❌ array_intersect_key(...)

// ✓ Remove specific keys
Arr::except($array, ['password', 'token']);
// ❌ unset($array['key'])

// ✓ Map values
Arr::map($array, fn($value) => strtoupper($value));
// ❌ array_map(fn($v) => strtoupper($v), $array)

// Strings
use Illuminate\Support\Str;

Str::upper('hello');        // ❌ strtoupper('hello')
Str::lower('HELLO');        // ❌ strtolower('HELLO')
Str::slug('Hello World');   // ❌ strtolower(str_replace(' ', '-', $string))
Str::contains('foo bar', 'foo'); // ❌ str_contains()
Str::random(32);            // ❌ bin2hex(random_bytes(16))

// Fluent chaining
$result = Str::of('  Hello World  ')
    ->trim()
    ->lower()
    ->slug();

// Collections
$users = collect(User::all());

// ✓ Prefer collection methods
$admins = $users->filter(fn($u) => $u->isAdmin())->values();
$names  = $users->pluck('name');
$byRole = $users->groupBy('role');

// ❌ manual foreach loops

Quick Reference: PHP → Laravel

Anti-Patterns

• Using array_map, array_filter, array_key_exists when Arr:: equivalents exist
• Using strtolower, strtoupper, str_replace when Str:: equivalents exist
• Writing manual foreach loops when a Collection method achieves the same result
• Not importing Arr or Str before use — always add the use statement

References

• Laravel Arr Helper
• Laravel Str Helper
• Laravel Collections