Laravel Soft Deletes: Mark Records as Deleted Without Removing Them
Laravel's Soft Delete feature allows developers to mark database records as deleted without permanently removing them, by populating a deleted_at timestamp column instead of executing a true DELETE query. Adding the softDeletes() column to a migration and applying the SoftDeletes trait to a model is all it takes to enable the feature. Once active, standard queries automatically exclude soft-deleted records, while methods like withTrashed() and onlyTrashed() let developers retrieve them when needed, and restore() brings any record back instantly. The approach is especially useful for audit trails, trash/recovery screens, and compliance requirements in sectors like finance and law. Developers must handle edge cases such as unique index conflicts and relationship queries, both of which require explicit use of whereNull('deleted_at') or withTrashed() to behave correctly.
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