Pagination in Laravel - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - Pagination

User requests page 1

↓

Controller calls Model->paginate()

↓

Database query with LIMIT and OFFSET

↓

Retrieve subset of records

↓

Return data with pagination info

↓

View renders items and page links

↓

User clicks next page -> repeat

Pagination splits data into pages. Laravel fetches only needed records and shows navigation links.

Execution Sample

Laravel

<?php
$users = User::paginate(3);
return view('users.index', ['users' => $users]);

Fetch 3 users per page and send to view for display with pagination links.

Execution Table

Step	Action	Query Parameters	Records Retrieved	Pagination Info	View Output
1	User requests page 1	page=1, perPage=3	Users 1,2,3	Current:1, TotalPages:4	Show users 1-3, show links 1,2,3,4
2	User clicks page 2	page=2, perPage=3	Users 4,5,6	Current:2, TotalPages:4	Show users 4-6, highlight page 2
3	User clicks page 4	page=4, perPage=3	Users 10	Current:4, TotalPages:4	Show user 10, highlight page 4
4	User clicks page 5	page=5, perPage=3	No records	Current:5, TotalPages:4	Show empty, no page 5 link
5	End	-	-	-	Pagination ends when no more pages

💡 Pagination stops when requested page exceeds total pages or no records found.

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	After Step 4	Final
page	1 (default)	1	2	4	5	5
perPage	3	3	3	3	3	3
records	[]	[User1, User2, User3]	[User4, User5, User6]	[User10]	[]	[]
totalPages	4	4	4	4	4	4
currentPage	1	1	2	4	5	5

Key Moments - 3 Insights

Why does clicking page 5 show no records even though we requested it?

Because total pages are 4, page 5 is beyond available data. See execution_table row 4 where no records are retrieved.

How does Laravel know which records to fetch for each page?

Laravel uses LIMIT and OFFSET in the database query based on current page and perPage. This is shown in execution_table 'Query Parameters' column.

What happens if perPage is changed to 5?

Total pages will decrease because more records show per page. The variable_tracker shows perPage fixed at 3; changing it affects totalPages calculation.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution_table, what records are retrieved at step 2?

A User 10

B Users 1,2,3

C Users 4,5,6

D No records

💡 Hint

Check the 'Records Retrieved' column at step 2 in execution_table.

At which step does the currentPage exceed totalPages?

A Step 4

B Step 1

C Step 3

D Step 2

💡 Hint

Look at 'currentPage' and 'totalPages' in variable_tracker after each step.

If perPage changed to 5, how would totalPages change?

A Increase

B Decrease

C Stay the same

D Become zero

💡 Hint

More records per page means fewer pages; see variable_tracker for perPage and totalPages relation.

Concept Snapshot

Laravel Pagination:
Use Model::paginate(perPage) to get limited records.
Returns data plus info: current page, total pages.
View uses links() to show page navigation.
Clicking page sends ?page=N to controller.
Controller fetches correct slice with LIMIT/OFFSET.

Full Transcript

Pagination in Laravel helps split large data into pages. When a user requests a page, the controller calls the paginate method on a model, specifying how many items per page. Laravel runs a database query with LIMIT and OFFSET to get only the needed records. It also calculates total pages and current page. The controller sends this data to the view, which shows the items and page links. When the user clicks a page link, the process repeats with the new page number. If the requested page is beyond available pages, no records show. Changing the number of items per page changes total pages accordingly.