Database: Query Builder
- Introduction
- Running Database Queries
- Select Statements
- Raw Expressions
- Joins
- Unions
- Basic Where Clauses
- Advanced Where Clauses
- Ordering, Grouping, Limit and Offset
- Conditional Clauses
- Insert Statements
- Update Statements
- Delete Statements
- Pessimistic Locking
- Debugging
Introduction
Laravel's database query builder provides a convenient, fluent interface to creating and running database queries. It can be used to perform most database operations in your application and works perfectly with all of Laravel's supported database systems.
The Laravel query builder uses PDO parameter binding to protect your application against SQL injection attacks. There is no need to clean or sanitize strings passed to the query builder as query bindings.
PDO does not support binding column names. Therefore, you should never allow user input to dictate the column names referenced by your queries, including "order by" columns.
Running Database Queries
Retrieving All Rows From a Table
You may use the table
method provided by the DB
facade to begin a query. The table
method returns a fluent query builder instance for the given table, allowing you to chain more constraints onto the query and then finally retrieve the results of the query using the get
method:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers; use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;use Illuminate\View\View; class UserController extends Controller{ /** * Show a list of all of the application's users. */ public function index(): View { $users = DB::table('users')->get(); return view('user.index', ['users' => $users]); }}
The get
method returns an Illuminate\Support\Collection
instance containing the results of the query where each result is an instance of the PHP stdClass
object. You may access each column's value by accessing the column as a property of the object:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $users = DB::table('users')->get(); foreach ($users as $user) { echo $user->name;}
Laravel collections provide a variety of extremely powerful methods for mapping and reducing data. For more information on Laravel collections, check out the collection documentation.
Retrieving a Single Row / Column From a Table
If you just need to retrieve a single row from a database table, you may use the DB
facade's first
method. This method will return a single stdClass
object:
$user = DB::table('users')->where('name', 'John')->first(); return $user->email;
If you would like to retrieve a single row from a database table, but throw an Illuminate\Database\RecordNotFoundException
if no matching row is found, you may use the firstOrFail
method. If the RecordNotFoundException
is not caught, a 404 HTTP response is automatically sent back to the client:
$user = DB::table('users')->where('name', 'John')->firstOrFail();
If you don't need an entire row, you may extract a single value from a record using the value
method. This method will return the value of the column directly:
$email = DB::table('users')->where('name', 'John')->value('email');
To retrieve a single row by its id
column value, use the find
method:
$user = DB::table('users')->find(3);
Retrieving a List of Column Values
If you would like to retrieve an Illuminate\Support\Collection
instance containing the values of a single column, you may use the pluck
method. In this example, we'll retrieve a collection of user titles:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $titles = DB::table('users')->pluck('title'); foreach ($titles as $title) { echo $title;}
You may specify the column that the resulting collection should use as its keys by providing a second argument to the pluck
method:
$titles = DB::table('users')->pluck('title', 'name'); foreach ($titles as $name => $title) { echo $title;}
Chunking Results
If you need to work with thousands of database records, consider using the chunk
method provided by the DB
facade. This method retrieves a small chunk of results at a time and feeds each chunk into a closure for processing. For example, let's retrieve the entire users
table in chunks of 100 records at a time:
use Illuminate\Support\Collection;use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; DB::table('users')->orderBy('id')->chunk(100, function (Collection $users) { foreach ($users as $user) { // ... }});
You may stop further chunks from being processed by returning false
from the closure:
DB::table('users')->orderBy('id')->chunk(100, function (Collection $users) { // Process the records... return false;});
If you are updating database records while chunking results, your chunk results could change in unexpected ways. If you plan to update the retrieved records while chunking, it is always best to use the chunkById
method instead. This method will automatically paginate the results based on the record's primary key:
DB::table('users')->where('active', false) ->chunkById(100, function (Collection $users) { foreach ($users as $user) { DB::table('users') ->where('id', $user->id) ->update(['active' => true]); } });
Since the chunkById
and lazyById
methods add their own "where" conditions to the query being executed, you should typically logically group your own conditions within a closure:
DB::table('users')->where(function ($query) { $query->where('credits', 1)->orWhere('credits', 2);})->chunkById(100, function (Collection $users) { foreach ($users as $user) { DB::table('users') ->where('id', $user->id) ->update(['credits' => 3]); }});
When updating or deleting records inside the chunk callback, any changes to the primary key or foreign keys could affect the chunk query. This could potentially result in records not being included in the chunked results.
Streaming Results Lazily
The lazy
method works similarly to the chunk
method in the sense that it executes the query in chunks. However, instead of passing each chunk into a callback, the lazy()
method returns a LazyCollection
, which lets you interact with the results as a single stream:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; DB::table('users')->orderBy('id')->lazy()->each(function (object $user) { // ...});
Once again, if you plan to update the retrieved records while iterating over them, it is best to use the lazyById
or lazyByIdDesc
methods instead. These methods will automatically paginate the results based on the record's primary key:
DB::table('users')->where('active', false) ->lazyById()->each(function (object $user) { DB::table('users') ->where('id', $user->id) ->update(['active' => true]); });
When updating or deleting records while iterating over them, any changes to the primary key or foreign keys could affect the chunk query. This could potentially result in records not being included in the results.
Aggregates
The query builder also provides a variety of methods for retrieving aggregate values like count
, max
, min
, avg
, and sum
. You may call any of these methods after constructing your query:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $users = DB::table('users')->count(); $price = DB::table('orders')->max('price');
Of course, you may combine these methods with other clauses to fine-tune how your aggregate value is calculated:
$price = DB::table('orders') ->where('finalized', 1) ->avg('price');
Determining if Records Exist
Instead of using the count
method to determine if any records exist that match your query's constraints, you may use the exists
and doesntExist
methods:
if (DB::table('orders')->where('finalized', 1)->exists()) { // ...} if (DB::table('orders')->where('finalized', 1)->doesntExist()) { // ...}
Select Statements
Specifying a Select Clause
You may not always want to select all columns from a database table. Using the select
method, you can specify a custom "select" clause for the query:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $users = DB::table('users') ->select('name', 'email as user_email') ->get();
The distinct
method allows you to force the query to return distinct results:
$users = DB::table('users')->distinct()->get();
If you already have a query builder instance and you wish to add a column to its existing select clause, you may use the addSelect
method:
$query = DB::table('users')->select('name'); $users = $query->addSelect('age')->get();
Raw Expressions
Sometimes you may need to insert an arbitrary string into a query. To create a raw string expression, you may use the raw
method provided by the DB
facade:
$users = DB::table('users') ->select(DB::raw('count(*) as user_count, status')) ->where('status', '<>', 1) ->groupBy('status') ->get();
Raw statements will be injected into the query as strings, so you should be extremely careful to avoid creating SQL injection vulnerabilities.
Raw Methods
Instead of using the DB::raw
method, you may also use the following methods to insert a raw expression into various parts of your query. Remember, Laravel cannot guarantee that any query using raw expressions is protected against SQL injection vulnerabilities.
selectRaw
The selectRaw
method can be used in place of addSelect(DB::raw(/* ... */))
. This method accepts an optional array of bindings as its second argument:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->selectRaw('price * ? as price_with_tax', [1.0825]) ->get();
whereRaw / orWhereRaw
The whereRaw
and orWhereRaw
methods can be used to inject a raw "where" clause into your query. These methods accept an optional array of bindings as their second argument:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->whereRaw('price > IF(state = "TX", ?, 100)', [200]) ->get();
havingRaw / orHavingRaw
The havingRaw
and orHavingRaw
methods may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the "having" clause. These methods accept an optional array of bindings as their second argument:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->select('department', DB::raw('SUM(price) as total_sales')) ->groupBy('department') ->havingRaw('SUM(price) > ?', [2500]) ->get();
orderByRaw
The orderByRaw
method may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the "order by" clause:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->orderByRaw('updated_at - created_at DESC') ->get();
groupByRaw
The groupByRaw
method may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the group by
clause:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->select('city', 'state') ->groupByRaw('city, state') ->get();
Joins
Inner Join Clause
The query builder may also be used to add join clauses to your queries. To perform a basic "inner join", you may use the join
method on a query builder instance. The first argument passed to the join
method is the name of the table you need to join to, while the remaining arguments specify the column constraints for the join. You may even join multiple tables in a single query:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $users = DB::table('users') ->join('contacts', 'users.id', '=', 'contacts.user_id') ->join('orders', 'users.id', '=', 'orders.user_id') ->select('users.*', 'contacts.phone', 'orders.price') ->get();
Left Join / Right Join Clause
If you would like to perform a "left join" or "right join" instead of an "inner join", use the leftJoin
or rightJoin
methods. These methods have the same signature as the join
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->leftJoin('posts', 'users.id', '=', 'posts.user_id') ->get(); $users = DB::table('users') ->rightJoin('posts', 'users.id', '=', 'posts.user_id') ->get();
Cross Join Clause
You may use the crossJoin
method to perform a "cross join". Cross joins generate a cartesian product between the first table and the joined table:
$sizes = DB::table('sizes') ->crossJoin('colors') ->get();
Advanced Join Clauses
You may also specify more advanced join clauses. To get started, pass a closure as the second argument to the join
method. The closure will receive a Illuminate\Database\Query\JoinClause
instance which allows you to specify constraints on the "join" clause:
DB::table('users') ->join('contacts', function (JoinClause $join) { $join->on('users.id', '=', 'contacts.user_id')->orOn(/* ... */); }) ->get();
If you would like to use a "where" clause on your joins, you may use the where
and orWhere
methods provided by the JoinClause
instance. Instead of comparing two columns, these methods will compare the column against a value:
DB::table('users') ->join('contacts', function (JoinClause $join) { $join->on('users.id', '=', 'contacts.user_id') ->where('contacts.user_id', '>', 5); }) ->get();
Subquery Joins
You may use the joinSub
, leftJoinSub
, and rightJoinSub
methods to join a query to a subquery. Each of these methods receives three arguments: the subquery, its table alias, and a closure that defines the related columns. In this example, we will retrieve a collection of users where each user record also contains the created_at
timestamp of the user's most recently published blog post:
$latestPosts = DB::table('posts') ->select('user_id', DB::raw('MAX(created_at) as last_post_created_at')) ->where('is_published', true) ->groupBy('user_id'); $users = DB::table('users') ->joinSub($latestPosts, 'latest_posts', function (JoinClause $join) { $join->on('users.id', '=', 'latest_posts.user_id'); })->get();
Lateral Joins
Lateral joins are currently supported by PostgreSQL, MySQL >= 8.0.14, and SQL Server.
You may use the joinLateral
and leftJoinLateral
methods to perform a "lateral join" with a subquery. Each of these methods receives two arguments: the subquery and its table alias. The join condition(s) should be specified within the where
clause of the given subquery. Lateral joins are evaluated for each row and can reference columns outside the subquery.
In this example, we will retrieve a collection of users as well as the user's three most recent blog posts. Each user can produce up to three rows in the result set: one for each of their most recent blog posts. The join condition is specified with a whereColumn
clause within the subquery, referencing the current user row:
$latestPosts = DB::table('posts') ->select('id as post_id', 'title as post_title', 'created_at as post_created_at') ->whereColumn('user_id', 'users.id') ->orderBy('created_at', 'desc') ->limit(3); $users = DB::table('users') ->joinLateral($latestPosts, 'latest_posts') ->get();
Unions
The query builder also provides a convenient method to "union" two or more queries together. For example, you may create an initial query and use the union
method to union it with more queries:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $first = DB::table('users') ->whereNull('first_name'); $users = DB::table('users') ->whereNull('last_name') ->union($first) ->get();
In addition to the union
method, the query builder provides a unionAll
method. Queries that are combined using the unionAll
method will not have their duplicate results removed. The unionAll
method has the same method signature as the union
method.
Basic Where Clauses
Where Clauses
You may use the query builder's where
method to add "where" clauses to the query. The most basic call to the where
method requires three arguments. The first argument is the name of the column. The second argument is an operator, which can be any of the database's supported operators. The third argument is the value to compare against the column's value.
For example, the following query retrieves users where the value of the votes
column is equal to 100
and the value of the age
column is greater than 35
:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '=', 100) ->where('age', '>', 35) ->get();
For convenience, if you want to verify that a column is =
to a given value, you may pass the value as the second argument to the where
method. Laravel will assume you would like to use the =
operator:
$users = DB::table('users')->where('votes', 100)->get();
As previously mentioned, you may use any operator that is supported by your database system:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>=', 100) ->get(); $users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '<>', 100) ->get(); $users = DB::table('users') ->where('name', 'like', 'T%') ->get();
You may also pass an array of conditions to the where
function. Each element of the array should be an array containing the three arguments typically passed to the where
method:
$users = DB::table('users')->where([ ['status', '=', '1'], ['subscribed', '<>', '1'],])->get();
PDO does not support binding column names. Therefore, you should never allow user input to dictate the column names referenced by your queries, including "order by" columns.
MySQL and MariaDB automatically typecast strings to integers in string-number comparisons. In this process, non-numeric strings are converted to 0
, which can lead to unexpected results. For example, if your table has a secret
column with a value of aaa
and you run User::where('secret', 0)
, that row will be returned. To avoid this, ensure all values are typecast to their appropriate types before using them in queries.
Or Where Clauses
When chaining together calls to the query builder's where
method, the "where" clauses will be joined together using the and
operator. However, you may use the orWhere
method to join a clause to the query using the or
operator. The orWhere
method accepts the same arguments as the where
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->orWhere('name', 'John') ->get();
If you need to group an "or" condition within parentheses, you may pass a closure as the first argument to the orWhere
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->orWhere(function (Builder $query) { $query->where('name', 'Abigail') ->where('votes', '>', 50); }) ->get();
The example above will produce the following SQL:
select * from users where votes > 100 or (name = 'Abigail' and votes > 50)
You should always group orWhere
calls in order to avoid unexpected behavior when global scopes are applied.
Where Not Clauses
The whereNot
and orWhereNot
methods may be used to negate a given group of query constraints. For example, the following query excludes products that are on clearance or which have a price that is less than ten:
$products = DB::table('products') ->whereNot(function (Builder $query) { $query->where('clearance', true) ->orWhere('price', '<', 10); }) ->get();
Where Any / All / None Clauses
Sometimes you may need to apply the same query constraints to multiple columns. For example, you may want to retrieve all records where any columns in a given list are LIKE
a given value. You may accomplish this using the whereAny
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('active', true) ->whereAny([ 'name', 'email', 'phone', ], 'like', 'Example%') ->get();
The query above will result in the following SQL:
SELECT *FROM usersWHERE active = true AND ( name LIKE 'Example%' OR email LIKE 'Example%' OR phone LIKE 'Example%')
Similarly, the whereAll
method may be used to retrieve records where all of the given columns match a given constraint:
$posts = DB::table('posts') ->where('published', true) ->whereAll([ 'title', 'content', ], 'like', '%Laravel%') ->get();
The query above will result in the following SQL:
SELECT *FROM postsWHERE published = true AND ( title LIKE '%Laravel%' AND content LIKE '%Laravel%')
The whereNone
method may be used to retrieve records where none of the given columns match a given constraint:
$posts = DB::table('albums') ->where('published', true) ->whereNone([ 'title', 'lyrics', 'tags', ], 'like', '%explicit%') ->get();
The query above will result in the following SQL:
SELECT *FROM albumsWHERE published = true AND NOT ( title LIKE '%explicit%' OR lyrics LIKE '%explicit%' OR tags LIKE '%explicit%')
JSON Where Clauses
Laravel also supports querying JSON column types on databases that provide support for JSON column types. Currently, this includes MariaDB 10.3+, MySQL 8.0+, PostgreSQL 12.0+, SQL Server 2017+, and SQLite 3.39.0+. To query a JSON column, use the ->
operator:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('preferences->dining->meal', 'salad') ->get();
You may use whereJsonContains
to query JSON arrays:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereJsonContains('options->languages', 'en') ->get();
If your application uses the MariaDB, MySQL, or PostgreSQL databases, you may pass an array of values to the whereJsonContains
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereJsonContains('options->languages', ['en', 'de']) ->get();
You may use whereJsonLength
method to query JSON arrays by their length:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereJsonLength('options->languages', 0) ->get(); $users = DB::table('users') ->whereJsonLength('options->languages', '>', 1) ->get();
Additional Where Clauses
whereLike / orWhereLike / whereNotLike / orWhereNotLike
The whereLike
method allows you to add "LIKE" clauses to your query for pattern matching. These methods provide a database-agnostic way of performing string matching queries, with the ability to toggle case-sensitivity. By default, string matching is case-insensitive:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereLike('name', '%John%') ->get();
You can enable a case-sensitive search via the caseSensitive
argument:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereLike('name', '%John%', caseSensitive: true) ->get();
The orWhereLike
method allows you to add an "or" clause with a LIKE condition:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->orWhereLike('name', '%John%') ->get();
The whereNotLike
method allows you to add "NOT LIKE" clauses to your query:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereNotLike('name', '%John%') ->get();
Similarly, you can use orWhereNotLike
to add an "or" clause with a NOT LIKE condition:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->orWhereNotLike('name', '%John%') ->get();
The whereLike
case-sensitive search option is currently not supported on SQL Server.
whereIn / whereNotIn / orWhereIn / orWhereNotIn
The whereIn
method verifies that a given column's value is contained within the given array:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereIn('id', [1, 2, 3]) ->get();
The whereNotIn
method verifies that the given column's value is not contained in the given array:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereNotIn('id', [1, 2, 3]) ->get();
You may also provide a query object as the whereIn
method's second argument:
$activeUsers = DB::table('users')->select('id')->where('is_active', 1); $users = DB::table('comments') ->whereIn('user_id', $activeUsers) ->get();
The example above will produce the following SQL:
select * from comments where user_id in ( select id from users where is_active = 1)
If you are adding a large array of integer bindings to your query, the whereIntegerInRaw
or whereIntegerNotInRaw
methods may be used to greatly reduce your memory usage.
whereBetween / orWhereBetween
The whereBetween
method verifies that a column's value is between two values:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereBetween('votes', [1, 100]) ->get();
whereNotBetween / orWhereNotBetween
The whereNotBetween
method verifies that a column's value lies outside of two values:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereNotBetween('votes', [1, 100]) ->get();
whereBetweenColumns / whereNotBetweenColumns / orWhereBetweenColumns / orWhereNotBetweenColumns
The whereBetweenColumns
method verifies that a column's value is between the two values of two columns in the same table row:
$patients = DB::table('patients') ->whereBetweenColumns('weight', ['minimum_allowed_weight', 'maximum_allowed_weight']) ->get();
The whereNotBetweenColumns
method verifies that a column's value lies outside the two values of two columns in the same table row:
$patients = DB::table('patients') ->whereNotBetweenColumns('weight', ['minimum_allowed_weight', 'maximum_allowed_weight']) ->get();
whereNull / whereNotNull / orWhereNull / orWhereNotNull
The whereNull
method verifies that the value of the given column is NULL
:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereNull('updated_at') ->get();
The whereNotNull
method verifies that the column's value is not NULL
:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereNotNull('updated_at') ->get();
whereDate / whereMonth / whereDay / whereYear / whereTime
The whereDate
method may be used to compare a column's value against a date:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereDate('created_at', '2016-12-31') ->get();
The whereMonth
method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific month:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereMonth('created_at', '12') ->get();
The whereDay
method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific day of the month:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereDay('created_at', '31') ->get();
The whereYear
method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific year:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereYear('created_at', '2016') ->get();
The whereTime
method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific time:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereTime('created_at', '=', '11:20:45') ->get();
whereColumn / orWhereColumn
The whereColumn
method may be used to verify that two columns are equal:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereColumn('first_name', 'last_name') ->get();
You may also pass a comparison operator to the whereColumn
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereColumn('updated_at', '>', 'created_at') ->get();
You may also pass an array of column comparisons to the whereColumn
method. These conditions will be joined using the and
operator:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereColumn([ ['first_name', '=', 'last_name'], ['updated_at', '>', 'created_at'], ])->get();
Logical Grouping
Sometimes you may need to group several "where" clauses within parentheses in order to achieve your query's desired logical grouping. In fact, you should generally always group calls to the orWhere
method in parentheses in order to avoid unexpected query behavior. To accomplish this, you may pass a closure to the where
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->where('name', '=', 'John') ->where(function (Builder $query) { $query->where('votes', '>', 100) ->orWhere('title', '=', 'Admin'); }) ->get();
As you can see, passing a closure into the where
method instructs the query builder to begin a constraint group. The closure will receive a query builder instance which you can use to set the constraints that should be contained within the parenthesis group. The example above will produce the following SQL:
select * from users where name = 'John' and (votes > 100 or title = 'Admin')
You should always group orWhere
calls in order to avoid unexpected behavior when global scopes are applied.
Advanced Where Clauses
Where Exists Clauses
The whereExists
method allows you to write "where exists" SQL clauses. The whereExists
method accepts a closure which will receive a query builder instance, allowing you to define the query that should be placed inside of the "exists" clause:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereExists(function (Builder $query) { $query->select(DB::raw(1)) ->from('orders') ->whereColumn('orders.user_id', 'users.id'); }) ->get();
Alternatively, you may provide a query object to the whereExists
method instead of a closure:
$orders = DB::table('orders') ->select(DB::raw(1)) ->whereColumn('orders.user_id', 'users.id'); $users = DB::table('users') ->whereExists($orders) ->get();
Both of the examples above will produce the following SQL:
select * from userswhere exists ( select 1 from orders where orders.user_id = users.id)
Subquery Where Clauses
Sometimes you may need to construct a "where" clause that compares the results of a subquery to a given value. You may accomplish this by passing a closure and a value to the where
method. For example, the following query will retrieve all users who have a recent "membership" of a given type;
use App\Models\User;use Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder; $users = User::where(function (Builder $query) { $query->select('type') ->from('membership') ->whereColumn('membership.user_id', 'users.id') ->orderByDesc('membership.start_date') ->limit(1);}, 'Pro')->get();
Or, you may need to construct a "where" clause that compares a column to the results of a subquery. You may accomplish this by passing a column, operator, and closure to the where
method. For example, the following query will retrieve all income records where the amount is less than average;
use App\Models\Income;use Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder; $incomes = Income::where('amount', '<', function (Builder $query) { $query->selectRaw('avg(i.amount)')->from('incomes as i');})->get();
Full Text Where Clauses
Full text where clauses are currently supported by MariaDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
The whereFullText
and orWhereFullText
methods may be used to add full text "where" clauses to a query for columns that have full text indexes. These methods will be transformed into the appropriate SQL for the underlying database system by Laravel. For example, a MATCH AGAINST
clause will be generated for applications utilizing MariaDB or MySQL:
$users = DB::table('users') ->whereFullText('bio', 'web developer') ->get();
Ordering, Grouping, Limit and Offset
Ordering
The orderBy
Method
The orderBy
method allows you to sort the results of the query by a given column. The first argument accepted by the orderBy
method should be the column you wish to sort by, while the second argument determines the direction of the sort and may be either asc
or desc
:
$users = DB::table('users') ->orderBy('name', 'desc') ->get();
To sort by multiple columns, you may simply invoke orderBy
as many times as necessary:
$users = DB::table('users') ->orderBy('name', 'desc') ->orderBy('email', 'asc') ->get();
The latest
and oldest
Methods
The latest
and oldest
methods allow you to easily order results by date. By default, the result will be ordered by the table's created_at
column. Or, you may pass the column name that you wish to sort by:
$user = DB::table('users') ->latest() ->first();
Random Ordering
The inRandomOrder
method may be used to sort the query results randomly. For example, you may use this method to fetch a random user:
$randomUser = DB::table('users') ->inRandomOrder() ->first();
Removing Existing Orderings
The reorder
method removes all of the "order by" clauses that have previously been applied to the query:
$query = DB::table('users')->orderBy('name'); $unorderedUsers = $query->reorder()->get();
You may pass a column and direction when calling the reorder
method in order to remove all existing "order by" clauses and apply an entirely new order to the query:
$query = DB::table('users')->orderBy('name'); $usersOrderedByEmail = $query->reorder('email', 'desc')->get();
Grouping
The groupBy
and having
Methods
As you might expect, the groupBy
and having
methods may be used to group the query results. The having
method's signature is similar to that of the where
method:
$users = DB::table('users') ->groupBy('account_id') ->having('account_id', '>', 100) ->get();
You can use the havingBetween
method to filter the results within a given range:
$report = DB::table('orders') ->selectRaw('count(id) as number_of_orders, customer_id') ->groupBy('customer_id') ->havingBetween('number_of_orders', [5, 15]) ->get();
You may pass multiple arguments to the groupBy
method to group by multiple columns:
$users = DB::table('users') ->groupBy('first_name', 'status') ->having('account_id', '>', 100) ->get();
To build more advanced having
statements, see the havingRaw
method.
Limit and Offset
The skip
and take
Methods
You may use the skip
and take
methods to limit the number of results returned from the query or to skip a given number of results in the query:
$users = DB::table('users')->skip(10)->take(5)->get();
Alternatively, you may use the limit
and offset
methods. These methods are functionally equivalent to the take
and skip
methods, respectively:
$users = DB::table('users') ->offset(10) ->limit(5) ->get();
Conditional Clauses
Sometimes you may want certain query clauses to apply to a query based on another condition. For instance, you may only want to apply a where
statement if a given input value is present on the incoming HTTP request. You may accomplish this using the when
method:
$role = $request->input('role'); $users = DB::table('users') ->when($role, function (Builder $query, string $role) { $query->where('role_id', $role); }) ->get();
The when
method only executes the given closure when the first argument is true
. If the first argument is false
, the closure will not be executed. So, in the example above, the closure given to the when
method will only be invoked if the role
field is present on the incoming request and evaluates to true
.
You may pass another closure as the third argument to the when
method. This closure will only execute if the first argument evaluates as false
. To illustrate how this feature may be used, we will use it to configure the default ordering of a query:
$sortByVotes = $request->boolean('sort_by_votes'); $users = DB::table('users') ->when($sortByVotes, function (Builder $query, bool $sortByVotes) { $query->orderBy('votes'); }, function (Builder $query) { $query->orderBy('name'); }) ->get();
Insert Statements
The query builder also provides an insert
method that may be used to insert records into the database table. The insert
method accepts an array of column names and values:
DB::table('users')->insert([ 'votes' => 0]);
You may insert several records at once by passing an array of arrays. Each array represents a record that should be inserted into the table:
DB::table('users')->insert([]);
The insertOrIgnore
method will ignore errors while inserting records into the database. When using this method, you should be aware that duplicate record errors will be ignored and other types of errors may also be ignored depending on the database engine. For example, insertOrIgnore
will bypass MySQL's strict mode:
DB::table('users')->insertOrIgnore([]);
The insertUsing
method will insert new records into the table while using a subquery to determine the data that should be inserted:
DB::table('pruned_users')->insertUsing([ 'id', 'name', 'email', 'email_verified_at'], DB::table('users')->select( 'id', 'name', 'email', 'email_verified_at')->where('updated_at', '<=', now()->subMonth()));
Auto-Incrementing IDs
If the table has an auto-incrementing id, use the insertGetId
method to insert a record and then retrieve the ID:
$id = DB::table('users')->insertGetId();
When using PostgreSQL the insertGetId
method expects the auto-incrementing column to be named id
. If you would like to retrieve the ID from a different "sequence", you may pass the column name as the second parameter to the insertGetId
method.
Upserts
The upsert
method will insert records that do not exist and update the records that already exist with new values that you may specify. The method's first argument consists of the values to insert or update, while the second argument lists the column(s) that uniquely identify records within the associated table. The method's third and final argument is an array of columns that should be updated if a matching record already exists in the database:
DB::table('flights')->upsert( [ ['departure' => 'Oakland', 'destination' => 'San Diego', 'price' => 99], ['departure' => 'Chicago', 'destination' => 'New York', 'price' => 150] ], ['departure', 'destination'], ['price']);
In the example above, Laravel will attempt to insert two records. If a record already exists with the same departure
and destination
column values, Laravel will update that record's price
column.
All databases except SQL Server require the columns in the second argument of the upsert
method to have a "primary" or "unique" index. In addition, the MariaDB and MySQL database drivers ignore the second argument of the upsert
method and always use the "primary" and "unique" indexes of the table to detect existing records.
Update Statements
In addition to inserting records into the database, the query builder can also update existing records using the update
method. The update
method, like the insert
method, accepts an array of column and value pairs indicating the columns to be updated. The update
method returns the number of affected rows. You may constrain the update
query using where
clauses:
$affected = DB::table('users') ->where('id', 1) ->update(['votes' => 1]);
Update or Insert
Sometimes you may want to update an existing record in the database or create it if no matching record exists. In this scenario, the updateOrInsert
method may be used. The updateOrInsert
method accepts two arguments: an array of conditions by which to find the record, and an array of column and value pairs indicating the columns to be updated.
The updateOrInsert
method will attempt to locate a matching database record using the first argument's column and value pairs. If the record exists, it will be updated with the values in the second argument. If the record cannot be found, a new record will be inserted with the merged attributes of both arguments:
DB::table('users') ->updateOrInsert( ['votes' => '2'] );
You may provide a closure to the updateOrInsert
method to customize the attributes that are updated or inserted into the database based on the existence of a matching record:
DB::table('users')->updateOrInsert( ['user_id' => $user_id], fn ($exists) => $exists ? [ 'name' => $data['name'], 'email' => $data['email'], ] : [ 'name' => $data['name'], 'email' => $data['email'], 'marketable' => true, ],);
Updating JSON Columns
When updating a JSON column, you should use ->
syntax to update the appropriate key in the JSON object. This operation is supported on MariaDB 10.3+, MySQL 5.7+, and PostgreSQL 9.5+:
$affected = DB::table('users') ->where('id', 1) ->update(['options->enabled' => true]);
Increment and Decrement
The query builder also provides convenient methods for incrementing or decrementing the value of a given column. Both of these methods accept at least one argument: the column to modify. A second argument may be provided to specify the amount by which the column should be incremented or decremented:
DB::table('users')->increment('votes'); DB::table('users')->increment('votes', 5); DB::table('users')->decrement('votes'); DB::table('users')->decrement('votes', 5);
If needed, you may also specify additional columns to update during the increment or decrement operation:
DB::table('users')->increment('votes', 1, ['name' => 'John']);
In addition, you may increment or decrement multiple columns at once using the incrementEach
and decrementEach
methods:
DB::table('users')->incrementEach([ 'votes' => 5, 'balance' => 100,]);
Delete Statements
The query builder's delete
method may be used to delete records from the table. The delete
method returns the number of affected rows. You may constrain delete
statements by adding "where" clauses before calling the delete
method:
$deleted = DB::table('users')->delete(); $deleted = DB::table('users')->where('votes', '>', 100)->delete();
If you wish to truncate an entire table, which will remove all records from the table and reset the auto-incrementing ID to zero, you may use the truncate
method:
DB::table('users')->truncate();
Table Truncation and PostgreSQL
When truncating a PostgreSQL database, the CASCADE
behavior will be applied. This means that all foreign key related records in other tables will be deleted as well.
Pessimistic Locking
The query builder also includes a few functions to help you achieve "pessimistic locking" when executing your select
statements. To execute a statement with a "shared lock", you may call the sharedLock
method. A shared lock prevents the selected rows from being modified until your transaction is committed:
DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->sharedLock() ->get();
Alternatively, you may use the lockForUpdate
method. A "for update" lock prevents the selected records from being modified or from being selected with another shared lock:
DB::table('users') ->where('votes', '>', 100) ->lockForUpdate() ->get();
Debugging
You may use the dd
and dump
methods while building a query to dump the current query bindings and SQL. The dd
method will display the debug information and then stop executing the request. The dump
method will display the debug information but allow the request to continue executing:
DB::table('users')->where('votes', '>', 100)->dd(); DB::table('users')->where('votes', '>', 100)->dump();
The dumpRawSql
and ddRawSql
methods may be invoked on a query to dump the query's SQL with all parameter bindings properly substituted:
DB::table('users')->where('votes', '>', 100)->dumpRawSql(); DB::table('users')->where('votes', '>', 100)->ddRawSql();