Milind Daraniya

Artisan is Laravel's command-line interface (CLI) tool that simplifies various development tasks. While Laravel comes with many built-in Artisan commands, you can extend it by creating your custom commands. In this post, we'll explore how to create custom Artisan commands in Laravel, enabling you to automate repetitive tasks and enhance your development workflow.

Creating a Custom Artisan Command

To create a custom Artisan command, you can use the make:command Artisan generator.

php artisan make:command MyCustomCommand

This will generate a new command file in the app/Console/Commands directory. Inside this file, you can define the behavior of your custom command in the handle method.

namespace App\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;

class MyCustomCommand extends Command
{
    protected $signature = 'custom:command';
    protected $description = 'Description of the custom command';

    public function handle()
    {
        $this->info('This is my custom command.');
    }
}

Defining Command Signature and Description

In the $signature property, you define the command's name and any command-line arguments and options it accepts.

protected $signature = 'custom:command {argument1} {--option1}';

• {argument1}: Defines a required argument.
• {--option1}: Defines an optional option.

In the $description property, provide a brief description of your custom command.

Executing the Command

To execute your custom command, you simply run:

php artisan custom:command

Handling Arguments and Options

You can access the arguments and options inside the handle method using their names.

public function handle()
{
    $argument1 = $this->argument('argument1');
    $option1 = $this->option('option1');

    $this->info("Argument1: $argument1, Option1: $option1");
}

Outputting Information

Use various methods like info, error, comment, and line to output information to the console.

$this->info('This is an informational message.');
$this->error('This is an error message.');
$this->comment('This is a comment.');
$this->line('This is a plain line.');

Asking for User Input

You can ask users for input using the ask method.

$name = $this->ask('What is your name?');
$this->info("Hello, $name!");

Confirming User Actions

Use the confirm method to ask users for confirmation.

if ($this->confirm('Are you sure you want to proceed?')) {
    // Perform the action
}

Customizing Output Formatting

You can use tables and progress bars to enhance the output formatting.

$headers = ['Name', 'Age'];
$data = [
    ['John', 30],
    ['Jane', 28],
];

$this->table($headers, $data);

$this->output->progressStart(10);
foreach (range(1, 10) as $step) {
    sleep(1);
    $this->output->progressAdvance();
}
$this->output->progressFinish();

Custom Artisan commands in Laravel empower you to automate various tasks, improve your development workflow, and streamline repetitive processes. By defining custom commands, you can tailor Artisan to suit your project's specific requirements, enhancing productivity and reducing manual work.

Experiment with the provided examples and explore additional functionalities available in the Artisan command-line interface to make the most out of Laravel's powerful CLI tool.