CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phplaravellaravel-5
Halnex
Halnex

Reputation: 4526

What is the difference between find(), findOrFail(), first(), firstOrFail(), get(), list(), toArray()

What is the difference between these methods:

  1. find()
  2. findOrFail()
  3. first()
  4. firstOrFail()
  5. get()
  6. list()
  7. toArray()

I've been using them and each one gives a different result and sometimes I need to add toArray() at the end of get() because my function is expecting an array. Won't the other methods produce arrays as well?

Upvotes: 184

Views: 266019

Answers (4)

Asim Shahzad
Asim Shahzad

Reputation: 1609

I know this is an older post, but I wanted to share my answer in case it helps anyone else.

find($id): Fetches a single model by primary key or returns null.

$user = User::find(1);

findOrFail($id): Fetches a single model by primary key or throws an exception if not found.

$user = User::findOrFail(1);

first(): Fetches the first record matching the query or returns null.

$user = User::where('email', '[email protected]')->first();

firstOrFail(): Fetches the first record matching the query or throws an exception if not found.

$user = User::where('email', '[email protected]')->firstOrFail();

get(): Fetches all records matching the query constraints as a collection.

$users = User::where('status', '1')->get();

pluck($column): Fetches values of a single column as a collection.

$emails = User::pluck('email');

toArray(): Converts the model or collection of models to an array.

$userArray = User::find(1)->toArray();

Upvotes: 2

Nijel
Nijel

Reputation: 1

There is also

$hsp = MyModel::firstWhere(['M_FK' => $x]);

Which returns the first model if found for a specific column

Upvotes: 0

Grogenstein
Grogenstein

Reputation: 71

Probably things changed but the findorFail method can take 2 arguments: $id and $columns mixed/array params respectively. Passing a second arg is not required. That said, this would work:

$post = Post::findOrFail([1,2], ['title', 'subtitle']);

If one of the $ids fails, the ModelNotFoundException with message 'No query results for model ... ' will be thrown.

Upvotes: 7

Joseph Silber
Joseph Silber

Reputation: 219938

  1. find($id) takes an id and returns a single model. If no matching model exist, it returns null.

  2. findOrFail($id) takes an id and returns a single model. If no matching model exist, it throws an error1.

  3. first() returns the first record found in the database. If no matching model exist, it returns null.

  4. firstOrFail() returns the first record found in the database. If no matching model exist, it throws an error1.

  5. get() returns a collection of models matching the query.

  6. pluck($column) returns a collection of just the values in the given column. In previous versions of Laravel this method was called lists.

  7. toArray() converts the model/collection into a simple PHP array.

Note: a collection is a beefed up array. It functions similarly to an array, but has a lot of added functionality, as you can see in the docs.

Unfortunately, PHP doesn't let you use a collection object everywhere you can use an array. For example, using a collection in a foreach loop is ok, put passing it to array_map is not. Similarly, if you type-hint an argument as array, PHP won't let you pass it a collection. Starting in PHP 7.1, there is the iterable typehint, which can be used to accept both arrays and collections.

If you ever want to get a plain array from a collection, call its all() method.

1 The error thrown by the findOrFail and firstOrFail methods is a ModelNotFoundException. If you don't catch this exception yourself, Laravel will respond with a 404, which is what you want most of the time.

Upvotes: 426

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