# Eloquent ORM Basics (Laravel)

> Models, CRUD operations, query builder, mass assignment, timestamps, soft deletes, accessors, mutators

- 22 interview questions
- Junior
- [Interview Questions: Laravel](https://sharpskill.dev/en/technologies/laravel/interview-questions.md)

## 1. What naming convention does Eloquent use by default to deduce the table name from the model name?

**Answer**

Eloquent uses the plural snake_case of the class name to deduce the table name. For example, the User model corresponds to the users table, and BlogPost corresponds to blog_posts. This convention can be overridden by defining the $table property in the model.

## 2. Which Eloquent method allows creating AND saving a new model in a single operation?

**Answer**

The create() method allows creating and saving a model in a single operation by accepting an array of attributes. It requires attributes to be listed in the $fillable property or $guarded to be defined to protect against mass assignment. Unlike new Model() followed by save(), create() combines these two steps.

## 3. What happens if attempting to mass assign an attribute that is not in $fillable?

**Answer**

Laravel throws a MassAssignmentException to protect against mass assignment vulnerabilities. This protection prevents malicious users from injecting unauthorized attributes via HTTP requests. You must either add the attribute to $fillable, use $guarded to protect only certain attributes, or use forceFill() to bypass protection.

## 19 more questions available

- What is the difference between the find() and findOrFail() methods in Eloquent?
- How does Eloquent automatically handle the created_at and updated_at columns?

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