Importing a CSV using Eloquent

When working with data, there are many different sources and file types that we may encounter. A common type is a CSV, or comma separated value, file. In this recipe, we'll take a CSV file's contents and insert them into our database.

Getting ready

To get started, we need to have a standard Laravel installation that's configured with a MySQL database. We also need to have our migrations table created by running the Artisan command, php artisan migrate:install.

How to do it...

To complete this recipe, follow these steps:

1. In a text editor, create a file named scifi.csv, save it to your application's public folder. Add in the following data:

   Spock,Star Trek
   Kirk,Star Trek
   Luke,Star Wars
   Lando,Star Wars
   Deckard,Blade Runner
   Dave,2001

2. In the command prompt, create a migration:

   php artisan migrate:make create_scifi_table
   

3. Open the migration file that was just created and add in our schema:

   use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
   
   class CreateScifiTable extends Migration...