Add “ON DELETE CASCADE” to existing column in Laravel

Question

I have user_id fk column in my table

$table->foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('users');

I should add on cascade delete feature to this existing column. How can I do this?

Answer 1

Drop foreign key first. Thanks to Razor for this tip

$table->dropForeign('answers_user_id_foreign');
$table->foreign('user_id')
->references('id')->on('users')
->onDelete('cascade');

Answer 2

Laravel schema builder can't modify columns at the current state, so you will use raw queries. You will have to drop and recreate the constraint:

PostgreSQL

function up()
{
    DB::statement('alter table answers drop constraint answers_user_id_foreign,
                   add constraint answers_user_id_foreign
                   foreign key (user_id)
                   references users(id)
                   on delete cascade;'
    );
}
function down()
{
    DB::statement('alter table answers drop constraint answers_user_id_foreign,
                   add constraint answers_user_id_foreign
                   foreign key (user_id)
                   references users(id);'
    );
}

MySQL

function up()
{
    DB::statement('alter table answers drop FOREIGN KEY answers_user_id_foreign;');
    DB::statement('alter table answers add constraint answers_user_id_foreign
                   foreign key (user_id)
                   references users(id)
                   on delete cascade;'
    );
}
function down()
{
    DB::statement('alter table answers drop FOREIGN KEY answers_user_id_foreign;');
    DB::statement('alter table answers add constraint answers_user_id_foreign
                   foreign key (user_id)
                   references users(id);'
    );
}

Answer 3

$table->foreign('user_id')
      ->references('id')->on('users')
      ->onDelete('cascade');

Answer 4

Thanks for question answer. Help me get to this working code in L5.1 :

public function up()
{
    Schema::table('transactions', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->dropForeign('transactions_order_id_foreign');
        $table->foreign('order_id')
            ->references('id')->on('orders')
            ->onDelete('cascade')
            ->change();
    });

    Schema::table('orders', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->dropForeign('orders_user_id_foreign');
        $table->foreign('user_id')
            ->references('id')->on('users')
            ->onDelete('cascade')
            ->change();
    });
}

Answer 5

In my case, i'll need to put the col name in an array else that will be an error.

Schema::table('transactions', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->dropForeign(['transactions_order_id_foreign']);
    $table->foreign('order_id')
        ->references('id')->on('orders')
        ->onDelete('cascade')
        ->change();
});

mysql 5.7 ver

Answer 6

$table->integer('user_id')->unsigned();    
$table->foreign('user_id')
      ->references('id')->on('users')
      ->onDelete('cascade');

I am assuming you used Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint::primary() to create users.id. If that is the case, then users.id will be unsigned. Therefore your foreign key column user_id must also be unsigned.

Answer 7

Use the unsigned function to user_id in the present migration:

$table->interger('user_id')->unsigned();
$table->foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('table_name')->onDelete('cascade');