Laravel Add & Remove URL Query Parameters Helpers

The problem

There are situations where I need to remove one or more query parameters from my app's URL, and then return the new URL. Similarly, I want to be able to add a new parameter easily. Furthermore, in my Laravel 5.8 app, I want to invoke these helpers from anywhere in my code, including Blade templates.

This type of scenario is very common in filtering (or faceting) data by various (URL) parameters.

The solution

I made these two functions that do exactly that. Be aware that these are Laravel-specific (due to using the built-in url() helper) but they can be easily adapted to be framework-agnostic.

Remove Parameters

/**
 * URL before:
 * https://example.com/orders/123?order=ABC009&status=shipped
 *
 * 1. remove_query_params(['status'])
 * 2. remove_query_params(['status', 'order'])
 *
 * URL after:
 * 1. https://example.com/orders/123?order=ABC009
 * 2. https://example.com/orders/123
 */
function remove_query_params(array $params = [])
{
    $url = url()->current(); // get the base URL - everything to the left of the "?"
    $query = request()->query(); // get the query parameters (what follows the "?")

    foreach($params as $param) {
        unset($query[$param]); // loop through the array of parameters we wish to remove and unset the parameter from the query array
    }

    return $query ? $url . '?' . http_build_query($query) : $url; // rebuild the URL with the remaining parameters, don't append the "?" if there aren't any query parameters left
}

Add Parameters

/**
 * URL before:
 * https://example.com/orders/123?order=ABC009
 *
 * 1. add_query_params(['status' => 'shipped'])
 * 2. add_query_params(['status' => 'shipped', 'coupon' => 'CCC2019'])
 *
 * URL after:
 * 1. https://example.com/orders/123?order=ABC009&status=shipped
 * 2. https://example.com/orders/123?order=ABC009&status=shipped&coupon=CCC2019
 */
function add_query_params(array $params = [])
{
    $query = array_merge(
        request()->query(),
        $params
    ); // merge the existing query parameters with the ones we want to add

    return url()->current() . '?' . http_build_query($query); // rebuild the URL with the new parameters array
}

Converting to global helpers

For my particular use-case, I needed to be able to use these functions either from a controller (or other class), or directly in a Blade template. Though some detest the idea of global functions, Laravel uses this pattern a lot and it does make it a lot easier to build features and get things done.

Based on this StackOverflow answer, one way of creating a global helpers file is to follow the following steps.

1. Create a helpers.php file (containing your functions) in the bootstrap folder.
2. Add it to composer.json

"autoload": {
        "classmap": [
            ...
        ],
        "psr-4": {
            "App\\": "app/"
        },
        "files": [
            "bootstrap/helpers.php"
        ]
}

3. Run composer dump-autoload.

Now your helpers should be available globally throughout your app.