Laravel Recipes :: Creating a Helpers File

You have common functions you want available for every request.

But you don't want to dirty up app\start\global.php with a bunch of functions.

Create a helpers.php file.

First create the file app/helpers.php.

<?php
// My common functions
function somethingOrOther()
{
    return (mt_rand(1,2) == 1) ? 'something' : 'other';
}
?>

Then either load it at the bottom of app\start\global.php as follows.

// at the bottom of the file
require app_path().'/helpers.php';

Or change your composer.json file and dump the autoloader.

{
    "autoload": {
        "files": [
            "app/helpers.php"
        ]
    }
}

$ composer dump-auto

You can have multiple types of helpers.

The standard Laravel setup has app/filters.php and app/routes.php but you can create whatever your application needs.

Here are some suggestions.

app/helpers.php - For general purpose functions.
app/composers.php - To initialize all your View composers in one place.
app/listeners.php - To set up all your event listeners in one place.
app/observers.php - Or, if you like observers better than listeners use this filename for event listeners.

It's really up to you and the demands of your application.

Creating a Helpers File