From 64636df8a0558aed5e5376570212d6892b3e793b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hammed Oyedele <itz.harmid@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:26:17 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] feat: add plainString method to retrieve data as a string

---
 .../Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php         | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php b/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
index bef9de2e5ccc..af9953a816cb 100644
--- a/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
+++ b/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
@@ -264,6 +264,22 @@ public function string($key, $default = null)
         return new Stringable($this->data($key, $default));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Retrieve data from the instance as a string.
+     *
+     * @param  string  $key
+     * @param  mixed  $default
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public function plainString($key, $default = null)
+    {
+        if ($this->isNotFilled($key)) {
+            return value($default);
+        }
+
+        return (string) $this->data($key);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Retrieve data as a boolean value.
      *

From 2e60e283ec37962e0f72751aee528ed3f11fbd09 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hammed Oyedele <itz.harmid@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:37:17 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix: update plainString return type and add tests for
 edge cases

---
 .../Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php      |  2 +-
 tests/Http/HttpRequestTest.php                | 25 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php b/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
index af9953a816cb..0855a8ea45e2 100644
--- a/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
+++ b/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/InteractsWithData.php
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ public function string($key, $default = null)
      *
      * @param  string  $key
      * @param  mixed  $default
-     * @return string
+     * @return string|null
      */
     public function plainString($key, $default = null)
     {
diff --git a/tests/Http/HttpRequestTest.php b/tests/Http/HttpRequestTest.php
index 078bc04612fc..885e732814c2 100644
--- a/tests/Http/HttpRequestTest.php
+++ b/tests/Http/HttpRequestTest.php
@@ -683,6 +683,31 @@ public function testStringMethod()
         $this->assertSame('', $request->string('unknown_key')->value());
     }
 
+    public function testPlainStringMethod()
+    {
+        $request = Request::create('/', 'GET', [
+            'int' => 123,
+            'int_str' => '456',
+            'float' => 123.456,
+            'float_str' => '123.456',
+            'float_zero' => 0.000,
+            'float_str_zero' => '0.000',
+            'str' => 'abc',
+            'empty_str' => '',
+            'null' => null,
+        ]);
+        $this->assertSame('123', $request->plainString('int'));
+        $this->assertSame('456', $request->plainString('int_str'));
+        $this->assertSame('123.456', $request->plainString('float'));
+        $this->assertSame('123.456', $request->plainString('float_str'));
+        $this->assertSame('0', $request->plainString('float_zero'));
+        $this->assertSame('0.000', $request->plainString('float_str_zero'));
+        $this->assertSame(null, $request->plainString('empty_str'));
+        $this->assertSame(null, $request->plainString('null'));
+        $this->assertSame(null, $request->plainString('unknown_key'));
+        $this->assertSame('default', $request->plainString('unknown_key', 'default'));
+    }
+
     public function testBooleanMethod()
     {
         $request = Request::create('/', 'GET', ['with_trashed' => 'false', 'download' => true, 'checked' => 1, 'unchecked' => '0', 'with_on' => 'on', 'with_yes' => 'yes']);