In Laravel, pagination typically involves querying a database and displaying results in smaller, manageable chunks. However, when working with hardcoded arrays, a different approach is required.

In this tutorial we’ll be using Laravel’s LengthAwarePaginator class to paginate a hardcoded array.

Interested in paginating Eloquent results instead? Check out my other tutorial: How to Use Pagination in Laravel Blade.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Create Laravel Project

Begin by creating a new Laravel project named ‘Bookstore’ using the following artisan command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel Bookstore

Step 2: Create a Controller

Next, create a Controller named BookController by running:

php artisan make:controller BookController

Step 3: Add Controller Code

Open the generated controller file at app/Http/Controllers/BookController.php and add the code below.

This code initializes a hardcoded $books array in the index() method of BookController. It’s then passed to a paginate() function to create a LengthAwarePaginator. Finally, the paginated result is sent to the view returned by the index() method:

app/Http/Controllers/BookController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Contracts\View\View;
use Illuminate\Pagination\LengthAwarePaginator;

class BookController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @return View  The view displaying the list of books.
     */
    public function index(): View
    {
        $books = [
            ['id' => 1, 'title' => 'Dune'],
            ['id' => 2, 'title' => 'The Lord of the Rings'],
            ['id' => 3, 'title' => "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"],
            // ...
        ];

        $paginatedBooks = $this->paginate($books);

        return view('books.index', compact('paginatedBooks'));
    }

    /**
     * Paginate an array of items.
     *
     * @return LengthAwarePaginator         The paginated items.
     */
    private function paginate(array $items, int $perPage = 5, ?int $page = null, $options = []): LengthAwarePaginator
    {
        $page = $page ?: (LengthAwarePaginator::resolveCurrentPage() ?: 1);
        $items = collect($items);
        return new LengthAwarePaginator($items->forPage($page, $perPage), $items->count(), $perPage, $page, $options);
    }
}

Step 4: Create a View

Create a file at resources/views/books/index.blade.php and add the following code:

resources/views/books/index.blade.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Books</title>
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/tailwindcss@2.2.19/dist/tailwind.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
</head>

<body>
<div class="container mx-auto">
    <h1 class="text-3xl font-bold mb-4">Books</h1>

    <table class="table-auto w-full border-collapse border border-gray-400">
        <thead>
        <tr class="bg-gray-200">
            <th class="px-4 py-2">Title</th>
            <th class="px-4 py-2">Author</th>
        </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
        @foreach ($paginatedBooks as $book)
            <tr>
                <td class="border px-4 py-2">{{ $book['title'] }}</td>
                <td class="border px-4 py-2">{{ $book['author'] }}</td>
            </tr>
        @endforeach
        </tbody>
    </table>

    <div class="mt-8">
        {{ $paginatedBooks->withPath(url()->current())->links() }}
    </div>
</div>
</body>

</html>

Step 5: Create a Route

Now, open routes/web.php and add a route for our books page:

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\BookController;

// Route to display paginated books
Route::get('/books', [BookController::class, 'index'])->name('books.index');

Step 6: Run the Application

Finally, try out the application by executing the following artisan command:

php artisan serve

Afterwards open your browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8000/books

The result should look like this:

Our Page Showing Paginated Books With Tailwind CSS Styles Applied

Also try clicking through to the page 2 using the number or the arrowed navigation.

That’s it! You’ve successfully Paginated a hardcoded array using Laravel.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to paginate an array of items in a Laravel application. We started by defining a custom pagination method within the controller that uses Laravel’s LengthAwarePaginator.

We can use this method to paginate any array of items, such as books in our case. By passing the paginated data to the view, we can easily display the items in a paginated format.

Now go ahead and add pagination to present large arrays in a user friendly manner in your own application. Happy Coding!

References

Manually Creating a Paginator (Laravel Documentation)
LengthAwarePaginator Class Reference (Laravel API/Illuminate Documentation)

Tailwind Documentation

How to Paginate an Array in Laravel