helpers

Helper Functions Reference

Webrium provides a set of global helper functions, available everywhere in your application without any use statements. Most are thin wrappers around the framework's core classes, designed for quick, expressive access in routes, controllers, and views.

URL & Routing

url(string $path = ''): string

Generate a full URL for a given relative path.

url('products/list'); // https://example.com/products/list
url();                  // https://example.com

current_url(): string

Get the full URL of the current request.

current_url(); // https://example.com/users/42?tab=settings

route(string $name, array $params = []): string

Generate a URL for a named route.

route('users.show', ['id' => 42]); // /users/42

See Routing — Named Routes.

Responses & Redirects

respond(mixed $data, int $statusCode = 200): never

Send a response and terminate the request. Arrays and objects are JSON-encoded automatically; any other value is cast to string and sent as-is.

return respond(['status' => 'ok']);
return respond(['error' => 'Not found'], 404);

redirect(string $url, int $statusCode = 303): never

Redirect to a URL and terminate the request. URLs containing line breaks are rejected with an InvalidArgumentException to prevent header injection.

return redirect('/login');
return redirect('/dashboard', 302);

back(): never

Redirect to the previous page, based on the Referer header. Falls back to the application base URL if no referer is present.

return back();

Building response payloads — html(), json(), text()

These return a ResponsePayload object (with the right Content-Type set) instead of terminating the request, so you return them from a controller and let the framework send them. This is the alternative to respond() when you want to set the content type explicitly or keep building the response.

return html('<h1>Hello</h1>');         // text/html; charset=utf-8
return json(['status' => 'ok']);       // application/json; charset=utf-8
return text('plain output');           // text/plain; charset=utf-8
 
return json(['error' => 'Not found'], 404);

• html(string $content, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload
• json(mixed $data, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload — encodes the data here; if encoding fails it returns a 500 error payload instead.
• text(string $content, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload

Request Input

input(?string $name = null, mixed $default = null): mixed

Retrieve a value from the current request — query string for GET, body for POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE (JSON or form-encoded).

input('email');                // a single field
input('page', 1);              // with a default
input();                        // all input as an array

See Requests.

Validation, Errors & Old Input

errors(string|false $name = false): mixed

Retrieve flashed validation errors from the previous request.

errors();          // all errors: ['field' => 'message', ...]
errors('email');    // error message for 'email', or null

old(string $name, mixed $default = ''): mixed

Retrieve the previous request's input value for a field — useful for repopulating forms.

old('email');
old('email', 'default@example.com');

message(bool $justGetText = false): mixed

Retrieve a flashed message from the previous request.

message();        // full message data
message(true);    // raw text only

See Sessions — Flash Messages, Errors, and Old Input.

Paths

All path helpers except root_path() resolve through directory aliases registered in the Directory class, so they reflect your project's actual configured paths. Each accepts an optional sub-path and returns an absolute filesystem path (an empty string if the alias is not registered).

public_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the public directory.

public_path('images/logo.png');

app_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the app directory.

app_path('Models/User.php');

storage_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the application's storage directory.

storage_path('logs/app.log');
storage_path('app/uploads');

config_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the config directory.

config_path('database.php');

resource_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the views directory.

resource_path('emails/welcome.php');

root_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path relative to the project root (resolved directly from the application root, not via a directory alias).

root_path('composer.json');

Configuration & Localization

env(string $name, mixed $default = null): mixed

Retrieve a value from .env.

env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');
env('APP_DEBUG', false);
env('OPTIONAL_KEY');           // returns null if unset

See Configuration.

lang(string $key, array $replacements = []): string

Translate a string using the current locale.

lang('messages.welcome');
lang('messages.greeting', ['name' => 'Alice']);

See Localization.

Frontend

vite_assets(?string $entryPoint = null): string

Render the appropriate <script>/<link> tags for Vite assets — the dev server tag in development, or hashed manifest assets in production. Pass an entry point to override the default.

<head>
    {!! vite_assets() !!}
    {!! vite_assets('resources/js/admin.js') !!}
</head>

Quick Reference Table

Function	Returns	Purpose
url($path)	string	Build a full URL
current_url()	string	Current request URL
route($name, $params)	string	URL for a named route
respond($data, $code)	never	Send a response and exit
redirect($url, $code)	never	Redirect and exit
back()	never	Redirect to previous page
html($content, $code)	ResponsePayload	Build an HTML response
json($data, $code)	ResponsePayload	Build a JSON response
text($content, $code)	ResponsePayload	Build a plain-text response
input($name, $default)	mixed	Get request input
errors($name)	mixed	Get flashed validation errors
old($name, $default)	mixed	Get previous input value
message($raw)	mixed	Get flashed message
public_path($path)	string	Path in public/
app_path($path)	string	Path in app/
storage_path($path)	string	Path in storage
config_path($path)	string	Path in config/
resource_path($path)	string	Path in views directory
root_path($path)	string	Path from project root
env($name, $default)	mixed	Get .env value
lang($key, $replacements)	string	Translate a string
vite_assets($entry)	string	Vite asset tags