Laravel Add a new column to existing table in a migration

I can't figure out how to add a new column to my existing database table using the Laravel framework.

I tried to edit the migration file using...

<?php

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('users', function ($table) {
        $table->integer("paid");
    });
}

In terminal, I execute php artisan migrate:install and migrate.

How do I add new columns?

Solution 1:

To create a migration, you may use the migrate:make command on the Artisan CLI. Use a specific name to avoid clashing with existing models

for Laravel 5+:

php artisan make:migration add_paid_to_users_table --table=users

for Laravel 3:

php artisan migrate:make add_paid_to_users

You then need to use the Schema::table() method (as you're accessing an existing table, not creating a new one). And you can add a column like this:

public function up()
{
    Schema::table('users', function($table) {
        $table->integer('paid');
    });
}

and don't forget to add the rollback option:

public function down()
{
    Schema::table('users', function($table) {
        $table->dropColumn('paid');
    });
}

Then you can run your migrations:

php artisan migrate

This is all well covered in the documentation for both Laravel 4 / Laravel 5:

• Schema Builder
• Migrations

And for Laravel 3:

• Schema Builder
• Migrations

Edit:

use $table->integer('paid')->after('whichever_column'); to add this field after specific column.

Solution 2:

I'll add on to mike3875's answer for future readers using Laravel 5.1 and onward.

To make things quicker, you can use the flag "--table" like this:

php artisan make:migration add_paid_to_users --table="users"

This will add the up and down method content automatically:

/**
 * Run the migrations.
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function up()
{
    Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
        //
    });
}

Similarily, you can use the --create["table_name"] option when creating new migrations which will add more boilerplate to your migrations. Small point, but helpful when doing loads of them!