Laravel 10 - How to Generate Fake Data with Laravel's Faker Library

Laravel 10 - Generating Fake Data with Laravel's Faker Library

Laravel provides a built-in way to generate fake data using the Faker library. This is useful for seeding databases during development and testing.

Step 1: Create a Seeder

Run the following Artisan command to create a new seeder class:

php artisan make:seeder UserSeeder

This will create a new seeder file at:
📂 database/seeders/UserSeeder.php

Step 2: Add Faker to the Seeder

Open the generated UserSeeder.php file and modify it as follows:

namespace Database\Seeders;

use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;
use Faker\Factory as Faker;

class UserSeeder extends Seeder
{
    public function run(): void
    {
        $faker = Faker::create();

        foreach (range(1, 10) as $index) {
            DB::table('users')->insert([
                'name' => $faker->name,
                'email' => $faker->unique()->safeEmail,
                'password' => Hash::make('password'), // Default password
                'created_at' => now(),
                'updated_at' => now(),
            ]);
        }
    }
}

📌 What This Does:
✅ Generates 10 fake users.
✅ Uses Faker::create() to generate random names, emails, and timestamps.
✅ Hashes the password before inserting it into the database.

Step 3: Run the Seeder

Run the seeder with the following command:

php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder

This will insert 10 fake users into your users table.

Step 4: Use Factories for More Flexibility (Recommended)

Instead of manually inserting fake data using DB::table(), Laravel provides factories to generate fake data efficiently.

Create a Model Factory

Run the following command to generate a factory for the User model:

php artisan make:factory UserFactory --model=User

This will create a factory file:
📂 database/factories/UserFactory.php

Define the Fake Data

Modify the factory file:

namespace Database\Factories;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\Factory;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;

class UserFactory extends Factory
{
    public function definition(): array
    {
        return [
            'name' => $this->faker->name(),
            'email' => $this->faker->unique()->safeEmail(),
            'password' => Hash::make('password'),
            'created_at' => now(),
            'updated_at' => now(),
        ];
    }
}

Use the Factory in the Seeder

Modify UserSeeder.php to use the factory:

use App\Models\User;

class UserSeeder extends Seeder
{
    public function run(): void
    {
        User::factory(10)->create(); // Creates 10 users
    }
}

Run the factory-based seeder:

php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder

Step 5: Seed the Entire Database

To run all seeders at once, edit DatabaseSeeder.php:

public function run(): void
{
    $this->call(UserSeeder::class);
}

Then run:

php artisan db:seed

Conclusion

🎯 Using Faker with Laravel allows you to quickly populate your database for development & testing.
✅ Direct Seeder (DB::table()) - Simple way to insert fake records.
✅ Factory-Based Seeding (User::factory()) - More powerful and reusable.
✅ Run Seeders using php artisan db:seed.

Would you like to add fake data for other models like Posts, Products, etc.?

Souy Soeng