Old avatar not deleted when uploading a new one

I am using Laravel Breeze to handle profile updates, and I have added functionality to allow users to update their avatar. Everything works fine, but the issue is that when a user uploads a new avatar, the old one isn't deleted from the filesystem.

I store avatars in storage/app/public/avatars/ and use php artisan storage:link to make them accessible. Here is my update method:

public function update(ProfileUpdateRequest $request): RedirectResponse
{
    $request->user()->fill($request->validated());

    if ($request->user()->isDirty('email')) {
        $request->user()->email_verified_at = null;
    }

    if ($request->hasFile('avatar')) {
        // Attempt to delete the old avatar
        Storage::disk('public')->delete('avatars/' . $request->user()->avatar);
        
        $file = $request->file('avatar');
        $fileName = Str::uuid() . '.' . $file->getClientOriginalExtension();
        $file->storeAs('avatars', $fileName, 'public');

        $request->user()->avatar = $fileName;
    }

    $request->user()->save();

    return Redirect::route('profile.edit');
}

However, after uploading a new avatar, the old avatar remains in the storage/app/public/avatars/ directory instead of being deleted.

What I’ve tried:

Checked that Storage::disk('public')->delete('avatars/' . $request->user()->avatar); runs before the new file is stored. Verified that the file exists in storage/app/public/avatars/ before deleting. Debugged with dd(Storage::disk('public')->exists('avatars/' . $request->user()->avatar)); before the delete call. Confirmed that $request->hasFile('avatar') returns true, so the condition is being met. Removed everything from the function and tested only deletion:

dd(Storage::disk('public')->delete('avatars/' . $request->user()->avatar));

In this case, the avatar was successfully deleted, which makes this issue even stranger.

Questions: Why isn't the old avatar getting deleted in the full function? Could there be a reason why Storage::delete() works in isolation but not when used before storing a new file? How can I ensure that the old avatar is properly removed before saving the new one? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

I suspect the issue is when you call $request->user()->fill($request->validated()); before handle the avatar file, it will overwrite the user's existing avatar attribute.

Try this

public function update(ProfileUpdateRequest $request): RedirectResponse
{
    # Capture the current avatar filename
    $oldAvatar = $request->user()->avatar;

    # Update user attributes except the avatar file
    $request->user()->fill($request->validated());

    # ...

    if ($request->hasFile('avatar')) {
        # Delete the old avatar using the stored filename
        Storage::disk('public')->delete('avatars/' . $oldAvatar);
        
        # ...
    }

    $request->user()->save();

    return Redirect::route('profile.edit');
}