Soft deleting is a Laravel feature that allows you to hide records from your application without permanently deleting them from the database. This can be useful for a variety of reasons,

such as:

• Keeping a record of deleted records for audit purposes
• Giving users the ability to restore deleted records
• Avoiding database fragmentation

To use soft deleting in Laravel, you need to:

1. Add a deleted_at column to your database table. This column should be of type datetime and nullable.
2. Add the SoftDeletes trait to your model.
3. Call the delete() method on the model to soft delete it.

Soft deleting is a crucial feature in Laravel, a popular PHP framework, that allows you to “delete” records from a database while preserving their existence in the database. This feature is a powerful tool for protecting your data integrity and complying with legal or regulatory requirements. It is removed from the database permanently. Soft deleting, however, doesn’t actually erase the data but instead marks it as “deleted.” This way, the information remains in the database but is no longer visible in standard queries. Soft deleting is especially useful when you need to maintain a historical record of data changes, comply with data retention policies, or recover accidentally deleted data.

Step 1: Database Migration

In your database migration file, add a deleted_at column of type timestamp to the table you want to enable soft deleting for. This column will store the deletion timestamp for each record.

Schema::create('your_table', function (Blueprint $table) {
    // ... other columns
    $table->softDeletes(); // Adds the 'deleted_at' column
});

Step 2: Model Configuration

In your model, use the SoftDeletes trait provided by Laravel. This trait adds the necessary methods and properties to the model.

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;

class YourModel extends Model
{
    use SoftDeletes;
    // ...
}

That’s it! Your Laravel model is now set up for soft deleting.

Performing Soft Deletes

To soft delete a record, use the delete method on your model instance. Laravel will automatically set the deleted_at column to the current timestamp without physically removing the record from the database.

$record = YourModel::find($id);
$record->delete();

Restoring Soft Deleted Records

Soft deleted records can be restored easily. Use the restore method on a model instance to bring the record back to life.

$record = YourModel::withTrashed()->find($id); // Find the soft deleted record
$record->restore(); // Restore the record

Permanently Deleting Records

In some cases, you may want to remove soft-deleted records permanently from the database. To do this, use the forceDelete method.

$record = YourModel::withTrashed()->find($id); // Find the soft deleted record
$record->forceDelete(); // Permanently delete the record

Querying Soft Deleted Records

To retrieve soft deleted records alongside active ones, use the withTrashed method in your query:

$records = YourModel::withTrashed()->get();

To retrieve only soft deleted records, you can use the onlyTrashed method:

$records = YourModel::onlyTrashed()->get();