Blade is Laravel's templating engine — it lets you write dynamic HTML with clean syntax ({{ }}, @directives) that compiles to plain PHP. It provides template inheritance, components, and built-in XSS protection, keeping views readable and secure.
<h1>{{ $title }}</h1> {{-- echoes $title, AUTO-ESCAPED (XSS-safe) --}}
<p>{{ $user->name }}</p>
{!! $trustedHtml !!} {{-- unescaped — use ONLY for trusted HTML --}}
{{ $var }} outputs data and automatically escapes it (preventing XSS — a key security benefit); {!! !!} outputs raw HTML (use only for trusted content).
@if ($user->isAdmin)
<p>Admin</p>
@elseif ($user->isActive)
<p>Active</p>
@else
<p>Guest</p>
@endif
@foreach ($posts as $post)
<li>{{ $post->title }}</li>
@empty
<li>No posts</li>
@endforeach
@auth ... @endauth {{-- only if logged in --}}
@can('update', $post) ... @endcan {{-- authorization check --}}
Blade @directives provide conditionals, loops, and Laravel-specific helpers (auth checks, authorization) with clean, readable syntax (no <?php ?> clutter).
{{-- layout.blade.php — a base layout with sections --}}
<html><body>
<nav>...</nav>
@yield('content') {{-- child views fill this --}}
</body></html>
{{-- page.blade.php — extends the layout --}}
@extends('layout')
@section('content')
<h1>My Page</h1>
@endsection
Template inheritance (@extends/@yield/@section) defines a common layout once (nav, footer) and lets pages fill in specific sections — avoiding repeating the page shell.
{{-- modern, reusable components --}}
<x-alert type="error" :message="$error" />
<x-card>Content goes in the slot</x-card>
Blade is how you build server-rendered views in Laravel, making it essential for any Laravel application with HTML output.
Understanding its syntax — {{ }} for outputting data, @directives for logic, and component syntax — is everyday knowledge for building views.
Two aspects are especially important.
First, Blade's automatic escaping of {{ }} output provides built-in XSS protection (a major security benefit, neutralizing injected scripts in user data by default — you opt out only for trusted content with {!! !!}), which is a key reason to use Blade rather than raw PHP echoes.
Second, template inheritance (@extends/@yield/@section) and components (<x-component>) enable DRY, maintainable view structure — defining layouts and reusable UI pieces once rather than duplicating markup.
Blade's clean, expressive syntax (avoiding raw PHP clutter) and these features for reuse and security make it a productive, safe templating engine.
Knowing Blade — its syntax, auto-escaping, inheritance, and components — is fundamental for building the view layer of server-rendered Laravel applications efficiently and securely.