Eloquent Collection: Counting and Detect Empty

Question

This may be a trivial question but I am wondering if Laravel recommends a certain way to check whether an Eloquent collection returned from $result = Model::where(...)->get() is empty, as well as counting the number of elements.

We are currently using !$result to detect empty result, is that sufficient? As for count($result), does it actually cover all cases, including empty result?

Ameba

Answer 1

When using ->get() you cannot simply use any of the below:

if (empty($result)) { }
if (!$result) { }
if ($result) { }

Because if you dd($result); you'll notice an instance of Illuminate\Support\Collection is always returned, even when there are no results. Essentially what you're checking is $a = new stdClass; if ($a) { ... } which will always return true.

To determine if there are any results you can do any of the following:

if ($result->first()) { } 
if (!$result->isEmpty()) { }
if ($result->count()) { }
if (count($result)) { }

You could also use ->first() instead of ->get() on the query builder which will return an instance of the first found model, or null otherwise. This is useful if you need or are expecting only one result from the database.

$result = Model::where(...)->first();
if ($result) { ... }

Notes / References

• ->first() http://laravel.com/api/4.2/Illuminate/Database/Eloquent/Collection.html#method_first
• isEmpty() http://laravel.com/api/4.2/Illuminate/Database/Eloquent/Collection.html#method_isEmpty
• ->count() http://laravel.com/api/4.2/Illuminate/Database/Eloquent/Collection.html#method_count
• count($result) works because the Collection implements Countable and an internal count() method: http://laravel.com/api/4.2/Illuminate/Database/Eloquent/Collection.html#method_count

Bonus Information

The Collection and the Query Builder differences can be a bit confusing to newcomers of Laravel because the method names are often the same between the two. For that reason it can be confusing to know what one you’re working on. The Query Builder essentially builds a query until you call a method where it will execute the query and hit the database (e.g. when you call certain methods like ->all() ->first() ->lists() and others). Those methods also exist on the Collection object, which can get returned from the Query Builder if there are multiple results. If you're not sure what class you're actually working with, try doing var_dump(User::all()) and experimenting to see what classes it's actually returning (with help of get_class(...)). I highly recommend you check out the source code for the Collection class, it's pretty simple. Then check out the Query Builder and see the similarities in function names and find out when it actually hits the database.

• Laravel 5.2 Collection Class
• Laravel 5.2 Query Builder

Judenberg

thx, just to add that if you run query first(), the result is different from get(), which can be checked with !$result as empty result is null – Ameba

@btinn yes -- if you did i.e. Model::first() -- it's actually acting on the 'first` method of the query builder and NOT the collection, therefore it will pick the first one from the database -- however Model::get() will return an instance of Illuminate\Support\Collection so if you did $r = Model::get() and then $r->first() it will pick out the first item within that collection. – Judenberg

One thing this answer doesn't address is whether count($result) works; adding that detail would be an improvement. – Seraphina

what's the difference between $result->count and count($result) Does $result->count hit the database again? If not, I guess these are the same then! – Ragouzis

$result->count doesnt hit the database again as it uses the collection Facade helper function count() – Godroon

!$result->isEmpty() isn't working for me in Laravel 5.2. – Secondly

How about when you only one want to check whether a specific column (property) like in $collection->column is empty / null or not? – Isochronize

@pathros There's no simple way of doing that. You would have to iterate through each member of the collection using a foreach loop and then use one of these checks (think: count($collection->column)). – Secondly

great to know that first returns null if no record is found! – Pickel

Doesn't work for me, at least not on an empty collection. – Cryometer

Answer 2

I think you are looking for:

$result->isEmpty()

This is different from empty($result), which will not be true because the result will be an empty collection. Your suggestion of count($result) is also a good solution. I cannot find any reference in the docs

Charlet

How about when you only one want to check whether a specific column (property) like in $collection->column is empty / null or not? – Isochronize

Answer 3

I agree the above approved answer. But usually I use $results->isNotEmpty() method as given below.

if($results->isNotEmpty())
{
//do something
}

It's more verbose than if(!results->isEmpty()) because sometimes we forget to add '!' in front which may result in unwanted error.

Note that this method exists from version 5.3 onwards.

Maugham

Answer 4

There are several methods given in Laravel for checking results count/check empty/not empty:

$result->isNotEmpty(); // True if result is not empty.
$result->isEmpty(); // True if result is empty.
$result->count(); // Return count of records in result.

Justinajustine

Answer 5

According to Laravel Documentation states you can use this way:

$result->isEmpty();

The isEmpty method returns true if the collection is empty; otherwise, false is returned.

Teador

Answer 6

I think better to used

$result->isEmpty();

The isEmpty method returns true if the collection is empty; otherwise, false is returned.

Mab

Answer 7

I think you try something like

  @if(!$result->isEmpty())
         // $result is not empty
    @else
        // $result is empty
    @endif

or also use

if (!$result) { }
if ($result) { } 

Alvinalvina

Answer 8

You can do

$result = Model::where(...)->count(); 

to count the results.

You can also use

if ($result->isEmpty()){}

to check whether or not the result is empty.

Precaution

Answer 9

so Laravel actually returns a collection when just using Model::all(); you don't want a collection you want an array so you can type set it. (array)Model::all(); then you can use array_filter to return the results

$models = (array)Model::all()
$models = array_filter($models);
if(empty($models))
{
 do something
}

this will also allow you to do things like count().

Treblinka

keeping it as a collection is actually convenient so that the objects returned can still inherit lots of useful function in the collection facade. – Godroon

Answer 10

You can use: $counter = count($datas);

Iatrics

Answer 11

now you can use

$query = Model::where(...);
$isExists = $query->exists();
$count = $query->count();

https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/queries#determining-if-records-exist https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/queries#aggregates

Shive

Answer 12

You want to check these two cases of count().

#1

If the result contains only a single row (one record) from the database by using ->first().

if(count($result)) {
    // record is exist true...
}

#2

If result contain set of multiple row (multiple records) by using ->get() or ->all().

if($result->count()) {
    //record is exist true...
}

Tucker

Answer 13

The in_array() checks if a value exists in an array.

public function isAbsolutelyEmpty($value)
{
   return in_array($value, ["", "0", null, 0, 0.0], true);
}

Gasp