AWS S3 + Laravel - File Upload, Download, List, and Delete Example

Here’s how you can implement AWS S3 file upload, download, list, and delete functionalities in a Laravel application step-by-step.

1. Setting Up AWS S3

1. Create an AWS Account: If you don't have one, sign up for an AWS account.

2. Create an S3 Bucket:

• Log in to the AWS Management Console.
• Navigate to the S3 service.
• Click "Create bucket."
• Provide a unique bucket name and choose an appropriate region.
• Configure access permissions as needed (e.g., public or private).

2. Install AWS SDK for Laravel

Install the AWS S3 package via Composer:

composer require league/flysystem-aws-s3-v3 "^3.0"

3. Configure AWS S3 in Laravel

1. Set up environment variables in the .env file:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=your-region
AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name

2. Update config/filesystems.php to include the S3 configuration:

'disks' => [

    's3' => [
        'driver' => 's3',
        'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
        'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
        'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
        'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
        'url' => env('AWS_URL'), // Optional
        'endpoint' => env('AWS_ENDPOINT'), // Optional
    ],

],

4. Implement File Operations

Use Laravel's Storage facade for file operations: 

Upload a File

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;

public function uploadFile(Request $request)
{
    $request->validate([
        'file' => 'required|file|max:2048', // Example validation
    ]);

    $file = $request->file('file');
    $path = $file->store('folder-name', 's3'); // 'folder-name' is optional
    $url = Storage::disk('s3')->url($path);

    return response()->json(['message' => 'File uploaded successfully', 'url' => $url]);
}

List Files

public function listFiles()
{
    $files = Storage::disk('s3')->files('folder-name'); // 'folder-name' is optional
    return response()->json(['files' => $files]);
}

Download a File

public function downloadFile($filename)
{
    $file = Storage::disk('s3')->get($filename);

    return response($file, 200)
        ->header('Content-Type', 'application/octet-stream')
        ->header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="' . basename($filename) . '"');
}

Delete a File

public function deleteFile($filename)
{
    $result = Storage::disk('s3')->delete($filename);

    if ($result) {
        return response()->json(['message' => 'File deleted successfully']);
    } else {
        return response()->json(['message' => 'File deletion failed'], 500);
    }
}

5. Route Configuration

Define the routes in routes/web.php or routes/api.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\FileController;

Route::post('/upload', [FileController::class, 'uploadFile']);
Route::get('/list', [FileController::class, 'listFiles']);
Route::get('/download/{filename}', [FileController::class, 'downloadFile']);
Route::delete('/delete/{filename}', [FileController::class, 'deleteFile']);