URL::to and url() question regarding the query string

[EmranMR]

Hi,

Laravel v9.45.1:-

I am not sure if I am confused or this is a bug.
I am trying to generate a link to an external website with query strings.url helper function has an argument called $parameter and URL::to has an argument called $extra. I presumed these are query string bags same as the ones in the route() helper function.

Now when I add my query string the generated url just ignores them all... If I use a relative path, the parameters are added as an additional path rather than query string. Attached some photos from the tinker.

Is there a way to do this for absolute URLs?

Thanks!

[hafezdivandari]

The url helper function and URL facade are for generating URLs within your application (internal) you may use PHP http_build_query function instead:

$url = 'https://www.google.com?'.http_build_query(['bar' => 'baz']); // https://www.google.com?bar=baz

additionally, if you want to redirect to an external domain you may use:

return redirect()->away('https://www.google.com?'.http_build_query(['bar' => 'baz']));

[EmranMR]

Ah thanks! I got fed up and made my own helper using the first method.
However thanks for the second snippet as I wasn't aware of the redirect()->away! I would be playing around with that, from now on for sure! 🙏