How to Use Soft Delete in Eloquent: Laravel Guide

To use soft delete in Eloquent, add the SoftDeletes trait to your model and include a deleted_at timestamp column in your database table. This marks records as deleted without removing them, allowing you to restore or permanently delete them later.

Syntax

To enable soft deletes in an Eloquent model, you need to:

• Use the SoftDeletes trait in your model class.
• Add a deleted_at column of type timestamp or nullable timestamp to your database table.

This setup allows Eloquent to automatically exclude soft deleted records from query results.

php

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

class Post extends Model
{
    use SoftDeletes;

    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
}

Example

This example shows how to soft delete a record, query soft deleted records, restore them, and permanently delete them.

php

<?php

use App\Models\Post;

// Soft delete a post
$post = Post::find(1);
$post->delete();

// Query only non-deleted posts
$posts = Post::all();

// Query including soft deleted posts
$allPosts = Post::withTrashed()->get();

// Query only soft deleted posts
$trashedPosts = Post::onlyTrashed()->get();

// Restore a soft deleted post
$post->restore();

// Permanently delete a post
$post->forceDelete();

Output

No visible output; database records are marked with deleted_at timestamp or restored/removed accordingly.

Common Pitfalls

• Forgetting to add the deleted_at column in the database causes errors or soft delete to not work.
• Not using withTrashed() or onlyTrashed() when querying soft deleted records will exclude them by default.
• Calling delete() permanently removes records if SoftDeletes trait is not used.

php

/* Wrong: No SoftDeletes trait, delete permanently removes record */
class Post extends Model {}

$post = Post::find(1);
$post->delete(); // Permanently deletes

/* Right: Use SoftDeletes trait to enable soft delete */
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;

class Post extends Model
{
    use SoftDeletes;
    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
}

$post = Post::find(1);
$post->delete(); // Marks deleted_at timestamp instead of deleting

Quick Reference

Summary tips for using soft delete in Eloquent:

• Add SoftDeletes trait to your model.
• Add deleted_at nullable timestamp column to your table.
• Use delete() to soft delete, restore() to undo.
• Use withTrashed() or onlyTrashed() to query soft deleted records.
• Use forceDelete() to permanently remove records.

Key Takeaways

Add the SoftDeletes trait and deleted_at column to enable soft delete in Eloquent models.

Soft deleted records are excluded from queries unless you use withTrashed() or onlyTrashed().

Use delete() to soft delete, restore() to bring back, and forceDelete() to permanently remove records.

Always ensure your database table has a nullable deleted_at timestamp column.

Without the SoftDeletes trait, delete() permanently removes records instead of soft deleting.