Laravel 5.4 replace file if exist

Question

I need to solve a small inconvenience that I am presenting with the update of an image when modifying the associated registry.

When I modify the registry I want to replace the associated file that is in the directory.

This is my table structure:

Schema::create('institutions', function(Blueprint $table)
        {
            $table->engine = 'InnoDB';
            $table->increments('id');
            $table->string('name')->unique();
            $table->string('initials')->nullable();
            $table->string('description')->nullable();
            $table->string('avatar')->default('default.jpg');
            $table->timestamps();
        });

This is my update method on my controller:

public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        //

        $institution = $this->institution->find($id);

        try
        {
            $institution->update($request->all());

            if($request->hasFile('avatar')){
                $avatar = $request->file('avatar');
                $filename = time() . '.' . $avatar->getClientOriginalExtension();
                Image::make($avatar)->resize(250, 205)->save( public_path('uploads/institutions/' . $filename ) );

                $institution->avatar = $filename;
                $institution->save();
            }

            $updated = $institution;

            $message = flash('Institución actualizada correctamente!!!', 'success');

            return redirect()->route('instituciones.index')->with('message', $message);    
        }       

        catch(\Illuminate\Database\QueryException $e)
        { 
            $message = flash('La institución no se actualizó correctamente!!!', 'danger');

            return redirect()->route('institutions.create')->with('message', $message); 
        }   

    }

I have tried different methods but I have not succeeded.

Answer 1

The image uploaded must have the same filename to replace the old one,but in this case it would not replace because of time() method.

You may delete old one by get file name from database and save new image

//find data by id
$institution = $this->institution->find($id);
$filename  = public_path('uploads/institutions/').$institution->avatar;
if(File::exists($filename)) {

  $avatar = $request->file('avatar');
  $filename_new = time() . '.' . $avatar->getClientOriginalExtension();
  Image::make($avatar)->resize(250, 205)->save( public_path('uploads/institutions/' . $filename_new ) );

  //update filename to database
  $institution->avatar = $filename_new;
  $institution->save();    
  //Found existing file then delete
  File::delete($filename);  // or unlink($filename);
}

Hope it would help