Column Modifiers

When creating a column from the Blueprint object, a Column object is returned. This column gives you access to a few modifier commands to further configure the column.
Methods
​
​comment​
​default​
​nullable​
​primaryKey​
​references​
​unsigned​
​unique​
​
comment
Attach a comment to the column.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
comment
string
true
​
The comment text.
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.integer( "age" ).comment( "Do not lie about your age" );
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `age` INTEGER NOT NULL COMMENT `Do not lie about your age`
)
default
Sets a default value for the column.
Note: The value is not escaped, allowing you to specify functions like NOW() or literals like 1. To specify a literal string, wrap the value in quotes.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
value
string
true
​
The default value.
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.boolean( "is_active" ).default( 1 );
    table.timestamp( "created_date" ).default( "NOW()" );
    table.string( "country" ).default( "'USA'" );
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `is_active` TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 1,
    `created_date` TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW(),
    `country` VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT 'USA'
)
nullable
Sets the column to allow null values.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
No arguments
​
​
​
​
All columns are created as NOT NULL by default. As such, there is no notNull method.
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.timestamp( "last_logged_in" ).nullable()
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `last_logged_in` TIMESTAMP
)
primaryKey
Adds the column as a primary key for the table.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
indexName
string
false
A derived name built from the table name and column name.
The name to use for the primary key constraint.
The primaryKey method returns a TableIndex instance. Additional methods can be chained off of it.
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.uuid( "id" ).primaryKey();
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `id` CHAR(35) NOT NULL,
    CONSTAINT `pk_users_id` PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
)
references
Creates a foreign key constraint for the column.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
value
string
true
​
The default value.
IMPORTANT: Additional configuration of the foreign constraint is done by calling methods on the returned TableIndex instance.​
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.unsignedInteger( "country_id" ).references( "id" ).onTable( "countries" ).onDelete( "cascade" );
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `country_id` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
    CONSTRAINT `fk_users_country_id` FOREIGN KEY (`country_id`) REFERENCES `countries` (`id`) ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE CASCADE
)
unsigned
Sets the column as unsigned.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
No arguments
​
​
​
​
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.integer( age" ).unsigned();
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `age` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL
)
unique
Sets the column to have the UNIQUE constraint.
Argument
Type
Required
Default
Description
No arguments
​
​
​
​
Example:
SchemaBuilder
schema.create( "email", function( table ) {
    table.string( email" ).unique();
} );
SQL (MySQL)
CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE
)
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Last updated 4 months ago
Methods
comment	default
nullable	primaryKey
references	unsigned
unique
Argument	Type	Required	Default	Description
comment	string	`true`		The comment text.