Routing

A route connects a page address to the code that builds the response. Laminas has no single file with all addresses: each module describes its routes in the router section of module/<Module>/config/module.config.php.

The first route

Open module/Blog/config/module.config.php and replace the empty array:

// module/Blog/config/module.config.php
namespace Blog;
 
use Laminas\Router\Http\Literal;
 
return [
    'router' => [
        'routes' => [
            'blog' => [
                'type' => Literal::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route' => '/blog',
                    'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\PostController::class,
                        'action' => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
];

What each key means:

Open http://localhost:8080/blog. You get an error page explaining that the controller was not found. That is expected: the route already matched, and the PostController class is created in the controllers lesson. Before the route was added, the same address answered that the page was not found.

A route with a parameter

The Segment type lets you put a variable part — a parameter — into the address. A parameter starts with a colon. Add a second route next to the first one, inside routes:

// at the top of the file: use Laminas\Router\Http\Segment;
'post' => [
    'type' => Segment::class,
    'options' => [
        'route' => '/blog/:id',
        'constraints' => [
            'id' => '[0-9]+',
        ],
        'defaults' => [
            'controller' => Controller\PostController::class,
            'action' => 'view',
        ],
    ],
],

The address /blog/5 goes to the view action, and the number 5 becomes the id parameter. The constraints section sets a regular expression for the parameter: here id is digits only, so /blog/anna does not match this route.

An optional part

The part of the address in square brackets may be left out. The default value comes from defaults:

'archive' => [
    'type' => Segment::class,
    'options' => [
        'route' => '/archive[/:year]',
        'constraints' => ['year' => '[0-9]{4}'],
        'defaults' => [
            'controller' => Controller\PostController::class,
            'action' => 'archive',
            'year' => 2025,
        ],
    ],
],

The route answers both /archive and /archive/2024. In the first case year equals 2025.

Route types

Linking to a route

Addresses are not typed by hand in the code — they are built from the route name. In a view script the url() helper does it: $this->url('post', ['id' => 5]) returns the string /blog/5. If the address in the configuration changes, every link changes with it.

Common mistake

A parameter without a constraint accepts any text. The route /blog/:id without constraints also matches /blog/add, and the action receives an id equal to add. Always set a constraint for numeric parameters: 'id' => '[0-9]+'.