Defining columns

Inside a create() or table() callback, each method on Table declares one column and returns it, so modifiers chain.

$table->string('email', 255)->nullable()->default(null);

Column types

Method	Type	Notes
id(string $name = 'id')	BigInteger	Shorthand for an unsigned, auto-incrementing primary key.
boolean(string $name)	Boolean
tinyInteger(string $name)	TinyInteger
smallInteger(string $name)	SmallInteger
integer(string $name)	Integer
bigInteger(string $name)	BigInteger
decimal(string $name, int $precision = 8, int $scale = 2)	Decimal	Exact numeric. Use it for money.
float(string $name)	Float
double(string $name)	Double
char(string $name, int $length = 255)	Char	Fixed length.
string(string $name, int $length = 255)	String
text(string $name)	Text
date(string $name)	Date
time(string $name)	Time
dateTime(string $name)	DateTime
timestamp(string $name)	Timestamp
uuid(string $name = 'uuid')	Uuid	Native UUID on PostgreSQL, CHAR(36) elsewhere.
json(string $name)	Json
binary(string $name)	Binary
column(string $name, ColumnType $type)	any	The escape hatch when the type is in a variable.
timestamps(string $created = 'created_at', string $updated = 'updated_at')	Timestamp	Declares both, nullable. Returns void.

What each type becomes per database is in Type mapping.

note

timestamps() is the only one that returns void rather than a column, because it declares two. Reach for timestamp() twice if you need to modify them.

Modifiers

Every modifier returns the column.

Modifier	Default	Meaning
nullable(bool $nullable = true)	column is NOT NULL	Allows NULL.
default(scalar or null $value)	no default	Sets a DEFAULT.
length(int $length)	set by string() and char()	Rejects anything below 1.
precision(int $precision, int $scale)	set by decimal()	Rejects a scale above the precision or below 0.
unsigned(bool $unsigned = true)	signed	Only MySQL applies it; see below.
autoIncrement(bool $autoIncrement = true)	off	The database generates the value.
primary(bool $primary = true)	off	Joins the table's primary key.
unique(bool $unique = true)	off	Adds a unique constraint.
change(bool $changed = true)	off	Marks this as a change to an existing column. See Altering tables.

Each flag takes a boolean, so nullable(false) turns one back off — useful when a definition is built up conditionally.

caution

unsigned() is only honoured by MySQL. PostgreSQL, SQLite and SQL Server have no unsigned integer types, and their grammars drop the modifier rather than emit something the server would reject. A column you rely on being non-negative needs a check constraint, which this package does not yet model.

Defaults are written into the statement

A DEFAULT is part of the CREATE TABLE, not an argument to it, so the value cannot be bound as a parameter. Each grammar escapes it for its own database: quotes are doubled everywhere, MySQL also escapes backslashes, and SQL Server prefixes the literal with N so a unicode default survives.

$table->string('status', 40)->default("O'Brien");

-- MySQL
DEFAULT 'O''Brien'
-- SQL Server
DEFAULT N'O''Brien'

A default containing a null byte is rejected with InvalidSchemaException rather than truncated into the statement.

default(null) is not the same as leaving the default off. The first compiles DEFAULT NULL, the second compiles no default clause at all.

Names are validated, not escaped

Every table and column name must match:

/^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$/

Letters, digits and underscores, not starting with a digit. Anything else — quotes, spaces, semicolons, parentheses, hyphens — throws InvalidSchemaException.

The reason is that a name cannot be a bound parameter, so it ends up as text in the statement. Rejecting is safer than escaping: escaping would put the guarantee in four dialects' quoting rules agreeing with each other, and they do not.

caution

A dot is rejected too, so a schema-qualified name such as public.users is not supported. Connect to the schema you mean instead.