- Introduction
- Defining Models
- Retrieving Models
- Retrieving Single Models / Aggregates
- Inserting & Updating Models
- Deleting Models
- Query Scopes
- Comparing Models
- Events
The Eloquent ORM included with Laravel provides a beautiful, simple ActiveRecord implementation for working with your database. Each database table has a corresponding "Model" which is used to interact with that table. Models allow you to query for data in your tables, as well as insert new records into the table.
Before getting started, be sure to configure a database connection in config/database.php
. For more information on configuring your database, check out the documentation.
To get started, let's create an Eloquent model. Models typically live in the app
directory, but you are free to place them anywhere that can be auto-loaded according to your composer.json
file. All Eloquent models extend Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model
class.
The easiest way to create a model instance is using the make:model
Artisan command:
php artisan make:model Flight
If you would like to generate a database migration when you generate the model, you may use the --migration
or -m
option:
php artisan make:model Flight --migration
php artisan make:model Flight -m
Now, let's look at an example Flight
model, which we will use to retrieve and store information from our flights
database table:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
//
}
Note that we did not tell Eloquent which table to use for our Flight
model. By convention, the "snake case", plural name of the class will be used as the table name unless another name is explicitly specified. So, in this case, Eloquent will assume the Flight
model stores records in the flights
table. You may specify a custom table by defining a table
property on your model:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The table associated with the model.
*
* @var string
*/
protected $table = 'my_flights';
}
Eloquent will also assume that each table has a primary key column named id
. You may define a protected $primaryKey
property to override this convention:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The primary key associated with the table.
*
* @var string
*/
protected $primaryKey = 'flight_id';
}
In addition, Eloquent assumes that the primary key is an incrementing integer value, which means that by default the primary key will automatically be cast to an int
. If you wish to use a non-incrementing or a non-numeric primary key you must set the public $incrementing
property on your model to false
:
<?php
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* Indicates if the IDs are auto-incrementing.
*
* @var bool
*/
public $incrementing = false;
}
If your primary key is not an integer, you should set the protected $keyType
property on your model to string
:
<?php
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The "type" of the auto-incrementing ID.
*
* @var string
*/
protected $keyType = 'string';
}
By default, Eloquent expects created_at
and updated_at
columns to exist on your tables. If you do not wish to have these columns automatically managed by Eloquent, set the $timestamps
property on your model to false
:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* Indicates if the model should be timestamped.
*
* @var bool
*/
public $timestamps = false;
}
If you need to customize the format of your timestamps, set the $dateFormat
property on your model. This property determines how date attributes are stored in the database, as well as their format when the model is serialized to an array or JSON:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The storage format of the model's date columns.
*
* @var string
*/
protected $dateFormat = 'U';
}
If you need to customize the names of the columns used to store the timestamps, you may set the CREATED_AT
and UPDATED_AT
constants in your model:
<?php
class Flight extends Model
{
const CREATED_AT = 'creation_date';
const UPDATED_AT = 'last_update';
}
By default, all Eloquent models will use the default database connection configured for your application. If you would like to specify a different connection for the model, use the $connection
property:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The connection name for the model.
*
* @var string
*/
protected $connection = 'connection-name';
}
If you would like to define the default values for some of your model's attributes, you may define an $attributes
property on your model:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The model's default values for attributes.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $attributes = [
'delayed' => false,
];
}
Once you have created a model and its associated database table, you are ready to start retrieving data from your database. Think of each Eloquent model as a powerful query builder allowing you to fluently query the database table associated with the model. For example:
<?php
$flights = App\Flight::all();
foreach ($flights as $flight) {
echo $flight->name;
}
The Eloquent all
method will return all of the results in the model's table. Since each Eloquent model serves as a query builder, you may also add constraints to queries, and then use the get
method to retrieve the results:
$flights = App\Flight::where('active', 1)
->orderBy('name', 'desc')
->take(10)
->get();
{tip} Since Eloquent models are query builders, you should review all of the methods available on the query builder. You may use any of these methods in your Eloquent queries.
You can refresh models using the fresh
and refresh
methods. The fresh
method will re-retrieve the model from the database. The existing model instance will not be affected:
$flight = App\Flight::where('number', 'FR 900')->first();
$freshFlight = $flight->fresh();
The refresh
method will re-hydrate the existing model using fresh data from the database. In addition, all of its loaded relationships will be refreshed as well:
$flight = App\Flight::where('number', 'FR 900')->first();
$flight->number = 'FR 456';
$flight->refresh();
$flight->number; // "FR 900"
For Eloquent methods like all
and get
which retrieve multiple results, an instance of Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection
will be returned. The Collection
class provides a variety of helpful methods for working with your Eloquent results:
$flights = $flights->reject(function ($flight) {
return $flight->cancelled;
});
You may also loop over the collection like an array:
foreach ($flights as $flight) {
echo $flight->name;
}
If you need to process thousands of Eloquent records, use the chunk
command. The chunk
method will retrieve a "chunk" of Eloquent models, feeding them to a given Closure
for processing. Using the chunk
method will conserve memory when working with large result sets:
Flight::chunk(200, function ($flights) {
foreach ($flights as $flight) {
//
}
});
The first argument passed to the method is the number of records you wish to receive per "chunk". The Closure passed as the second argument will be called for each chunk that is retrieved from the database. A database query will be executed to retrieve each chunk of records passed to the Closure.
The cursor
method allows you to iterate through your database records using a cursor, which will only execute a single query. When processing large amounts of data, the cursor
method may be used to greatly reduce your memory usage:
foreach (Flight::where('foo', 'bar')->cursor() as $flight) {
//
}
In addition to retrieving all of the records for a given table, you may also retrieve single records using find
or first
. Instead of returning a collection of models, these methods return a single model instance:
// Retrieve a model by its primary key...
$flight = App\Flight::find(1);
// Retrieve the first model matching the query constraints...
$flight = App\Flight::where('active', 1)->first();
You may also call the find
method with an array of primary keys, which will return a collection of the matching records:
$flights = App\Flight::find([1, 2, 3]);
Sometimes you may wish to throw an exception if a model is not found. This is particularly useful in routes or controllers. The findOrFail
and firstOrFail
methods will retrieve the first result of the query; however, if no result is found, a Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\ModelNotFoundException
will be thrown:
$model = App\Flight::findOrFail(1);
$model = App\Flight::where('legs', '>', 100)->firstOrFail();
If the exception is not caught, a 404
HTTP response is automatically sent back to the user. It is not necessary to write explicit checks to return 404
responses when using these methods:
Route::get('/api/flights/{id}', function ($id) {
return App\Flight::findOrFail($id);
});
You may also use the count
, sum
, max
, and other aggregate methods provided by the query builder. These methods return the appropriate scalar value instead of a full model instance:
$count = App\Flight::where('active', 1)->count();
$max = App\Flight::where('active', 1)->max('price');
To create a new record in the database, create a new model instance, set attributes on the model, then call the save
method:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Flight;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
class FlightController extends Controller
{
/**
* Create a new flight instance.
*
* @param Request $request
* @return Response
*/
public function store(Request $request)
{
// Validate the request...
$flight = new Flight;
$flight->name = $request->name;
$flight->save();
}
}
In this example, we assign the name
parameter from the incoming HTTP request to the name
attribute of the App\Flight
model instance. When we call the save
method, a record will be inserted into the database. The created_at
and updated_at
timestamps will automatically be set when the save
method is called, so there is no need to set them manually.
The save
method may also be used to update models that already exist in the database. To update a model, you should retrieve it, set any attributes you wish to update, and then call the save
method. Again, the updated_at
timestamp will automatically be updated, so there is no need to manually set its value:
$flight = App\Flight::find(1);
$flight->name = 'New Flight Name';
$flight->save();
Updates can also be performed against any number of models that match a given query. In this example, all flights that are active
and have a destination
of San Diego
will be marked as delayed:
App\Flight::where('active', 1)
->where('destination', 'San Diego')
->update(['delayed' => 1]);
The update
method expects an array of column and value pairs representing the columns that should be updated.
{note} When issuing a mass update via Eloquent, the
saved
andupdated
model events will not be fired for the updated models. This is because the models are never actually retrieved when issuing a mass update.
You may also use the create
method to save a new model in a single line. The inserted model instance will be returned to you from the method. However, before doing so, you will need to specify either a fillable
or guarded
attribute on the model, as all Eloquent models protect against mass-assignment by default.
A mass-assignment vulnerability occurs when a user passes an unexpected HTTP parameter through a request, and that parameter changes a column in your database you did not expect. For example, a malicious user might send an is_admin
parameter through an HTTP request, which is then passed into your model's create
method, allowing the user to escalate themselves to an administrator.
So, to get started, you should define which model attributes you want to make mass assignable. You may do this using the $fillable
property on the model. For example, let's make the name
attribute of our Flight
model mass assignable:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The attributes that are mass assignable.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $fillable = ['name'];
}
Once we have made the attributes mass assignable, we can use the create
method to insert a new record in the database. The create
method returns the saved model instance:
$flight = App\Flight::create(['name' => 'Flight 10']);
If you already have a model instance, you may use the fill
method to populate it with an array of attributes:
$flight->fill(['name' => 'Flight 22']);
While $fillable
serves as a "white list" of attributes that should be mass assignable, you may also choose to use $guarded
. The $guarded
property should contain an array of attributes that you do not want to be mass assignable. All other attributes not in the array will be mass assignable. So, $guarded
functions like a "black list". Importantly, you should use either $fillable
or $guarded
- not both. In the example below, all attributes except for price
will be mass assignable:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Flight extends Model
{
/**
* The attributes that aren't mass assignable.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $guarded = ['price'];
}
If you would like to make all attributes mass assignable, you may define the $guarded
property as an empty array:
/**
* The attributes that aren't mass assignable.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $guarded = [];
There are two other methods you may use to create models by mass assigning attributes: firstOrCreate
and firstOrNew
. The firstOrCreate
method will attempt to locate a database record using the given column / value pairs. If the model can not be found in the database, a record will be inserted with the attributes from the first parameter, along with those in the optional second parameter.
The firstOrNew
method, like firstOrCreate
will attempt to locate a record in the database matching the given attributes. However, if a model is not found, a new model instance will be returned. Note that the model returned by firstOrNew
has not yet been persisted to the database. You will need to call save
manually to persist it:
// Retrieve flight by name, or create it if it doesn't exist...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrCreate(['name' => 'Flight 10']);
// Retrieve flight by name, or create it with the name, delayed, and arrival_time attributes...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrCreate(
['name' => 'Flight 10'],
['delayed' => 1, 'arrival_time' => '11:30']
);
// Retrieve by name, or instantiate...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrNew(['name' => 'Flight 10']);
// Retrieve by name, or instantiate with the name, delayed, and arrival_time attributes...
$flight = App\Flight::firstOrNew(
['name' => 'Flight 10'],
['delayed' => 1, 'arrival_time' => '11:30']
);
You may also come across situations where you want to update an existing model or create a new model if none exists. Laravel provides an updateOrCreate
method to do this in one step. Like the firstOrCreate
method, updateOrCreate
persists the model, so there's no need to call save()
:
// If there's a flight from Oakland to San Diego, set the price to $99.
// If no matching model exists, create one.
$flight = App\Flight::updateOrCreate(
['departure' => 'Oakland', 'destination' => 'San Diego'],
['price' => 99, 'discounted' => 1]
);
To delete a model, call the delete
method on a model instance:
$flight = App\Flight::find(1);
$flight->delete();
In the example above, we are retrieving the model from the database before calling the delete
method. However, if you know the primary key of the model, you may delete the model without retrieving it by calling the destroy
method. In addition to a single primary key as its argument, the destroy
method will accept multiple primary keys, an array of primary keys, or a collection of primary keys:
App\Flight::destroy(1);
App\Flight::destroy(1, 2, 3);
App\Flight::destroy([1, 2, 3]);
App\Flight::destroy(collect([1, 2, 3]));
You can also run a delete statement on a set of models. In this example, we will delete all flights that are marked as inactive. Like mass updates, mass deletes will not fire any model events for the models that are deleted:
$deletedRows = App\Flight::where('active', 0)->delete();
{note} When executing a mass delete statement via Eloquent, the
deleting
anddeleted
model events will not be fired for the deleted models. This is because the models are never actually retrieved when executing the delete statement.
In addition to actually removing records from your database, Eloquent can also "soft delete" models. When models are soft deleted, they are not actually removed from your database. Instead, a deleted_at
attribute is set on the model and inserted into the database. If a model has a non-null deleted_at
value, the model has been soft deleted. To enable soft deletes for a model, use the Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes
trait on the model:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
class Flight extends Model
{
use SoftDeletes;
}
{tip} The
SoftDeletes
trait will automatically cast thedeleted_at
attribute to aDateTime
/Carbon
instance for you.
You should also add the deleted_at
column to your database table. The Laravel schema builder contains a helper method to create this column:
Schema::table('flights', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->softDeletes();
});
Now, when you call the delete
method on the model, the deleted_at
column will be set to the current date and time. And, when querying a model that uses soft deletes, the soft deleted models will automatically be excluded from all query results.
To determine if a given model instance has been soft deleted, use the trashed
method:
if ($flight->trashed()) {
//
}
As noted above, soft deleted models will automatically be excluded from query results. However, you may force soft deleted models to appear in a result set using the withTrashed
method on the query:
$flights = App\Flight::withTrashed()
->where('account_id', 1)
->get();
The withTrashed
method may also be used on a relationship query:
$flight->history()->withTrashed()->get();
The onlyTrashed
method will retrieve only soft deleted models:
$flights = App\Flight::onlyTrashed()
->where('airline_id', 1)
->get();
Sometimes you may wish to "un-delete" a soft deleted model. To restore a soft deleted model into an active state, use the restore
method on a model instance:
$flight->restore();
You may also use the restore
method in a query to quickly restore multiple models. Again, like other "mass" operations, this will not fire any model events for the models that are restored:
App\Flight::withTrashed()
->where('airline_id', 1)
->restore();
Like the withTrashed
method, the restore
method may also be used on relationships:
$flight->history()->restore();
Sometimes you may need to truly remove a model from your database. To permanently remove a soft deleted model from the database, use the forceDelete
method:
// Force deleting a single model instance...
$flight->forceDelete();
// Force deleting all related models...
$flight->history()->forceDelete();
Global scopes allow you to add constraints to all queries for a given model. Laravel's own soft delete functionality utilizes global scopes to only pull "non-deleted" models from the database. Writing your own global scopes can provide a convenient, easy way to make sure every query for a given model receives certain constraints.
Writing a global scope is simple. Define a class that implements the Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Scope
interface. This interface requires you to implement one method: apply
. The apply
method may add where
constraints to the query as needed:
<?php
namespace App\Scopes;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Scope;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
class AgeScope implements Scope
{
/**
* Apply the scope to a given Eloquent query builder.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder $builder
* @param \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model $model
* @return void
*/
public function apply(Builder $builder, Model $model)
{
$builder->where('age', '>', 200);
}
}
{tip} If your global scope is adding columns to the select clause of the query, you should use the
addSelect
method instead ofselect
. This will prevent the unintentional replacement of the query's existing select clause.
To assign a global scope to a model, you should override a given model's boot
method and use the addGlobalScope
method:
<?php
namespace App;
use App\Scopes\AgeScope;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class User extends Model
{
/**
* The "booting" method of the model.
*
* @return void
*/
protected static function boot()
{
parent::boot();
static::addGlobalScope(new AgeScope);
}
}
After adding the scope, a query to User::all()
will produce the following SQL:
select * from `users` where `age` > 200
Eloquent also allows you to define global scopes using Closures, which is particularly useful for simple scopes that do not warrant a separate class:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
class User extends Model
{
/**
* The "booting" method of the model.
*
* @return void
*/
protected static function boot()
{
parent::boot();
static::addGlobalScope('age', function (Builder $builder) {
$builder->where('age', '>', 200);
});
}
}
If you would like to remove a global scope for a given query, you may use the withoutGlobalScope
method. The method accepts the class name of the global scope as its only argument:
User::withoutGlobalScope(AgeScope::class)->get();
Or, if you defined the global scope using a Closure:
User::withoutGlobalScope('age')->get();
If you would like to remove several or even all of the global scopes, you may use the withoutGlobalScopes
method:
// Remove all of the global scopes...
User::withoutGlobalScopes()->get();
// Remove some of the global scopes...
User::withoutGlobalScopes([
FirstScope::class, SecondScope::class
])->get();
Local scopes allow you to define common sets of constraints that you may easily re-use throughout your application. For example, you may need to frequently retrieve all users that are considered "popular". To define a scope, prefix an Eloquent model method with scope
.
Scopes should always return a query builder instance:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class User extends Model
{
/**
* Scope a query to only include popular users.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder $query
* @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
*/
public function scopePopular($query)
{
return $query->where('votes', '>', 100);
}
/**
* Scope a query to only include active users.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder $query
* @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
*/
public function scopeActive($query)
{
return $query->where('active', 1);
}
}
Once the scope has been defined, you may call the scope methods when querying the model. However, you should not include the scope
prefix when calling the method. You can even chain calls to various scopes, for example:
$users = App\User::popular()->active()->orderBy('created_at')->get();
Combining multiple Eloquent model scopes via an or
query operator may require the use of Closure callbacks:
$users = App\User::popular()->orWhere(function (Builder $query) {
$query->active();
})->get();
However, since this can be cumbersome, Laravel provides a "higher order" orWhere
method that allows you to fluently chain these scopes together without the use of Closures:
$users = App\User::popular()->orWhere->active()->get();
Sometimes you may wish to define a scope that accepts parameters. To get started, just add your additional parameters to your scope. Scope parameters should be defined after the $query
parameter:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class User extends Model
{
/**
* Scope a query to only include users of a given type.
*
* @param \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder $query
* @param mixed $type
* @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
*/
public function scopeOfType($query, $type)
{
return $query->where('type', $type);
}
}
Now, you may pass the parameters when calling the scope:
$users = App\User::ofType('admin')->get();
Sometimes you may need to determine if two models are the "same". The is
method may be used to quickly verify two models have same primary key, table, and database connection:
if ($post->is($anotherPost)) {
//
}
Eloquent models fire several events, allowing you to hook into the following points in a model's lifecycle: retrieved
, creating
, created
, updating
, updated
, saving
, saved
, deleting
, deleted
, restoring
, restored
. Events allow you to easily execute code each time a specific model class is saved or updated in the database. Each event receives the instance of the model through its constructor.
The retrieved
event will fire when an existing model is retrieved from the database. When a new model is saved for the first time, the creating
and created
events will fire. If a model already existed in the database and the save
method is called, the updating
/ updated
events will fire. However, in both cases, the saving
/ saved
events will fire.
{note} When issuing a mass update via Eloquent, the
saved
andupdated
model events will not be fired for the updated models. This is because the models are never actually retrieved when issuing a mass update.
To get started, define a $dispatchesEvents
property on your Eloquent model that maps various points of the Eloquent model's lifecycle to your own event classes:
<?php
namespace App;
use App\Events\UserSaved;
use App\Events\UserDeleted;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
class User extends Authenticatable
{
use Notifiable;
/**
* The event map for the model.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $dispatchesEvents = [
'saved' => UserSaved::class,
'deleted' => UserDeleted::class,
];
}
After defining and mapping your Eloquent events, you may use event listeners to handle the events.
If you are listening for many events on a given model, you may use observers to group all of your listeners into a single class. Observers classes have method names which reflect the Eloquent events you wish to listen for. Each of these methods receives the model as their only argument. The make:observer
Artisan command is the easiest way to create a new observer class:
php artisan make:observer UserObserver --model=User
This command will place the new observer in your App/Observers
directory. If this directory does not exist, Artisan will create it for you. Your fresh observer will look like the following:
<?php
namespace App\Observers;
use App\User;
class UserObserver
{
/**
* Handle the User "created" event.
*
* @param \App\User $user
* @return void
*/
public function created(User $user)
{
//
}
/**
* Handle the User "updated" event.
*
* @param \App\User $user
* @return void
*/
public function updated(User $user)
{
//
}
/**
* Handle the User "deleted" event.
*
* @param \App\User $user
* @return void
*/
public function deleted(User $user)
{
//
}
}
To register an observer, use the observe
method on the model you wish to observe. You may register observers in the boot
method of one of your service providers. In this example, we'll register the observer in the AppServiceProvider
:
<?php
namespace App\Providers;
use App\User;
use App\Observers\UserObserver;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
/**
* Register any application services.
*
* @return void
*/
public function register()
{
//
}
/**
* Bootstrap any application services.
*
* @return void
*/
public function boot()
{
User::observe(UserObserver::class);
}
}