How to Define Migration / Table name in model in Laravel

In Laravel, you need to define the table name related with a model by using the $table property within the model class. This is useful when the table does not created with the model. Following is the way of doing that.

Example

Suppose you have a table named custom_table that doesn’t follow Laravel’s naming convention.

Step 1: Create the Model

If you don’t already have a model, create one using the make:model Artisan command:

php artisan make:model CustomModel

Step 2: Define the Table Name

Open the generated model file (e.g., CustomModel.php) and set the $table property to the name of your database table:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class CustomModel extends Model
{
use HasFactory;

// Define the table name
protected $table = 'custom_table';
}

When is $table Needed?

1. When your table name does not match Laravel’s naming convention (e.g., posts for Post model).
2. When using a different naming scheme (e.g., tbl_users for a User model).
3. For legacy databases where table names cannot be changed.

Defining Relationships

After defining the $table property, you can still use Laravel’s relationship methods like hasOne, hasMany, etc., as usual. The $table property ensures Laravel uses the correct table for queries.