Laravel 5 - artisan seed [ReflectionException] Class SongsTableSeeder does not exist

When I run php artisan db:seed I am getting the following error:

[ReflectionException] Class SongsTableSeeder does not exist

What is going on?

My DatabaseSeeder class:

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class DatabaseSeeder extends Seeder {

    /**
     * Run the database seeds.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function run()
    {
        Model::unguard();

        $this->call('SongsTableSeeder');
    }

}

My SongsTableSeeder class:

<?php

// Composer: "fzaninotto/faker": "v1.4.0"
use Faker\Factory as Faker;
use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use DB;

class SongsTableSeeder extends Seeder {

    public function run()
    {
        $faker = Faker::create();
        $songs = [];
        foreach(range(1, 10) as $index)
        {
            $songs[] = ['title' => $faker->words(rand(1,4))];
        }

        DB::table('songs')->insert($songs);

    }

}

Solution 1:

You need to put SongsTableSeeder into file SongsTableSeeder.php in the same directory where you have your DatabaseSeeder.php file.

And you need to run in your console:

composer dump-autoload

to generate new class map and then run:

php artisan db:seed

I've just tested it. It is working without a problem in Laravel 5

Solution 2:

I solved it by doing this:

1. Copy the file content.
2. Remove file.
3. Run command: php artisan make:seeder .
4. Copy the file content back in this file.

This happened because I made a change in the filename. I don't know why it didn't work after the change.

Solution 3:

File SongsTableSeeder.php should be in database/seeds directory or in its subdirectory.

You need to run:

composer dump-autoload

and then:

php artisan db:seed

or:

php artisan db:seed --class=SongsTableSeeder

Solution 4:

If you migrated to Laravel 8, you have to add a namespace to the seeders class:

<?php

namespace Database\Seeders;

...

Next, in your composer.json file, remove classmap block from the autoload section and add the new namespaced class directory mappings:

"autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
        "App\\": "app/",
        "Database\\Seeders\\": "database/seeds/"
    }
},

An finally, do a composer dump-autoload.

For more information: https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/upgrade#seeder-factory-namespaces