url() vs route() in Laravel 5.6

Question

In my case, what is the difference between url() and route() in Laravel 5.6, two URIs are given below:

<a href=" {{ route('/article/create') }}" >Create post 1 </a>

and

<a href=" {{ url('/article/create') }}" >Create post 2 </a>

I defined them in web.php as follows:

Route::post('/article/create','ArticleController@create');

When I click on 'Create post 1' I got the following error:

Route [/article/create] not defined. 

I am not familiar with Laravel (just basic) so I am sorry if the question is some kind of obvious.

Answer 1

Let's suppose you are using the same URL in 10 different place and later on, you decide to change it. If you're using named route you have to modify URL only in route file and all links will still work.

Route::post('/student/create', 'ArticleController@create')->name('student.create');

Now, instead of passing path to the url() function, you can use route name:

route('student.create'); // instead of url('/student/create');