Camel Case in Laravel: A Guide to Converting Strings

Camel Case in Laravel: A Guide to Converting Strings

Table of Contents 📚

What is Camel Case?

Camel case, also known as camel caps, is a writing style where phrases are written without spaces or punctuation. It’s commonly used in programming. The first word starts with a lowercase letter, and the first character of subsequent words is capitalized. 📝

History of Camel Case

The term “camel case” was first coined in the 1990s by the programming community. It originated from the resemblance of the uppercase letters in the middle of a word to the humps of a camel. 🐫

Examples of Camel Case

  • iPhone
  • eBay
  • personWeight
  • statueHeight
  • birthYear
  • studentFirstName
  • studentLastName

Notice how the first character of the first word is in lowercase, while the starting character of subsequent words is in uppercase, joined without any spaces or punctuation. 🔗

Advantages of Camel Case

  1. Improved Readability: Camel case enhances code readability by clearly distinguishing between words.
  2. Reduced Errors: By avoiding spaces and punctuation, camel case minimizes errors caused by typos or incorrect syntax.
  3. Consistency: It promotes a consistent coding style, making collaboration easier among developers.

Converting Strings to Camel Case in Laravel

Laravel provides a static method called camel in the Str class, which can be accessed as Str::camel. This method converts a given string to camel case.

Example 1: Converting snake_case to Camel Case

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

// The value given to camel method is in snake_case
echo Str::camel('student_first_name');
// Output: studentFirstName

Example 2: Converting kebab-case to Camel Case

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

// The value given to camel method is in kebab-case
echo Str::camel('student-first-name');
// Output: studentFirstName

Example 3: Converting StudlyCase aka PascalCase to Camel Case

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

// The value given to camel method is in StudlyCase aka PascalCase
echo Str::camel('StudentFirstName');
// Output: studentFirstName

Best Practices for Using Camel Case

  1. Consistency: Use camel case consistently throughout your codebase to maintain readability and avoid confusion.
  2. Avoid Ambiguity: Steer clear of using camel case for variable names that may be confused with other words or abbreviations.
  3. Follow Conventions: Adhere to established conventions for camel case usage within your programming language or framework.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the concept of camel case, its history, advantages, and best practices. We also learned how to convert strings to camel case in Laravel using the Str::camel method. By following these guidelines, you can improve the readability and maintainability of your code. 😊

Additional Resources

  • Laravel Documentation: Refer to the official Laravel documentation for more information on the Str::camel method and other string manipulation techniques.
  • PSR-1: Basic Coding Standard: Follow established coding style guidelines for PHP to ensure consistency and readability in your code.
  • Camel Case on Wikipedia: Learn more about the history and usage of camel case in programming.

Keep helping and happy coding! 💻

Vishnu Damwala
Vishnu Damwala

A web geek, an industry experienced web developer & tutor/instructor residing in India 🇮🇳