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Class Not Found Exception in Laravel - Solutions

This error occurs when PHP cannot find a class that's being used, usually due to namespace issues or autoloading problems.

The Error

Error Message 
Class 'ClassName' not found

Common Causes

  1. 1 Class namespace doesn't match directory structure
  2. 2 Missing use statement at top of file
  3. 3 Composer autoload not updated
  4. 4 Typo in class name
  5. 5 File not in correct directory

Solutions

1

Add proper use statement

PHP 
use App\Models\Post;
use App\Services\PaymentService;
2

Regenerate autoload files

Bash 
composer dump-autoload -o
3

Ensure namespace matches directory

PHP 
// File: app/Services/PaymentService.php
namespace App\Services;

class PaymentService
{
    // ...
}

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